The Woes of an Immortal
by Dicktock McJerry
Summary: 4000 years after the end of the Fourth Shinobi World War, Naruto wakes into a land unknown to him. Still holding onto his will to fight for what he believes in, what changes can he make to a world that's forgotten his existence?
1. Chapter 1

It was there, at the precipice war, that he truly became enlightened to the face of tragedy. The death of his teacher wounded him. The death of his brother crippled him. The death of his beloved killed him. With his mind drowned in oceans of grief, the light at the surface of that dreadful water erased his past reticence and steeled his resolve.

With the goddess dead, the teen was content to stay submerged in this sea of mourning and let the water camouflage his tears. Sadly, he felt a tug at the back of his mind, disrupting the current he had already surrendered to. The tug became a pull and he was ripped from one dimension to another.

The shift of realities left him unphased, and he chose instead to focus on the disappearing seals on the ground. If his senses hadn't left him, he would have heard the triumphant cries of the beasts that surrounded him wither into a diseased silence at the sight of the bodies beside him. He would have heard Kurama lightly call his name. He would have seen his father look on in agony at the fate that had befallen his student.

But he knew that if he took those senses back, he would be forced to look at the corpses of his team. The sensei that raised him cleaved in half. The brother he respected charred to a crisp with his eye-sockets empty. The woman he loved with a hole in her heart.

Team Seven had killed a god.

And that god had killed Team Seven.

It was truly a fate worse than death – one that, in their earlier days of coexisting, his inhabitant demon would plague him with nightmares of.

A fate that could have been avoided.

A fate that would never be again.

Thus, he buried his naivety and set a new plan into motion.

The demons agreed to be sealed inside of himself on the basis of mutual trust.

The Tsukuyomi was undone.

And human ability to use chakra was no more.

The erasure of the energy would have a cataclysmic societal impact but leaving something with such devastating destructive power in the hands of those who would do others harm seemed irresponsible. It simply wasn't something that belonged in this world; a relic that would be lost to myth. Generations would come without ever having experienced it, and soon it would disappear from even discussion.

Having accomplished his plan, the boy found a cave for himself to reside, and let himself fall into an era long journey of reflection.

**4000 Years Later**

It was three years ago that Naruto had risen from his meditation. His introspective musings over the eons had mutated into a desire to finally experience the world. The aches of immortality fell away after an excursion to the surface, and while withholding his status as an eternal being, joined the ranks of a dilapidated local church.

From there he had learned the ways of the new world. The new language wasn't challenging to learn with a healthy amount of study and practice, but it did leave him with a thick accent, branding him a foreigner for the first year and a half of his new life. By the time the accent had fallen from his cadence and he had integrated into the population a few national headaches began troubling him.

The rise of magic power was worrying, but from his experiences, it had a far less destructive capacity than chakra did and had become so ingrained in the everyday lives of the population that attempting to phase it out could return catastrophic results. In a very liberal estimate, roughly a third of the world four millennia ago could use chakra. In the present, however, there were only two people alive that couldn't use magic power: himself, and the boy who the church had taken in some odd fifteen years ago.

What concerned him more than the presence of magic was the aristocracy that it upheld. The nobles were those with the most magic power, who married those with equal amounts, and bore children ripe with potential to surpass their parents. The new world had incidentally created a culture where selective breeding was normalized and discrimination was societal staple.

That corruption gave him a goal, though: to rid the world of these injustices and spread equality.

Far easier said than done.

Realistically, he surmised it would take multiple generations and a complete reconstruction of the ruling classes to erase the stigma that surrounded the common folk. He'd heard that the nobles residing in the capital were quite stubborn regarding acknowledgement of peasant-born power.

However, the completion of these plans was far from the present. He was sure that he could simply fly over to the Royal Capitol at any moment and take control from the current rulers, but a kingdom ruled by fear was a kingdom doomed to fail. So, he threw that off the table, electing to work his way up the ranks himself and bring peace from within.

Here he found himself, the night before his departure to the Royal Capitol, reclined in a pew and staring at the dancing of a fire as it teased the logs in the fireplace. Sleep was a pleasantry to somebody with his healing capability, and he rarely found himself partaking anymore.

None in the convent knew of his self-induced insomnia. They had all assumed that he was late to bed and early to rise, and it wasn't until the resident nun had awoken late one night and found him in the rows of the church flipping pages of what she assumed was his grimoire that he had told her of his troubles with sleep.

From there, Lily had begun to make it a point to keep him company for an hour or so once or twice a week. She could never stay up as late as him, and Naruto often found himself either feigning slumber so that she would voluntarily rest or having to carry her to her bed after her incidentally falling asleep during their conversations. Yet he very much appreciated the sentiment and found himself going out of his way to begin helping Lily with her duties as thanks.

This night began for them much like the others, and the fire continued its waltz as Lily took her spot next to Naruto in the pew. She admired his visage as he stared soberly at the light reflecting from the crucifix aloft on the wall. That stare gifted him an aura of a man far older than he was and was part of the reason that Lily had trouble seeing him as a teenage boy.

"Are you sure that you want to go with them tomorrow?" the nun asked. It wasn't necessarily out of worry for his success – she had seen his prowess many times before. Rather, she had grown quite fond of the boy sitting next to her. He was mature for a twenty-year-old, and she found herself seeing him as a peer that she could confide in – a pleasant change from her motherly role over the other children.

"Yeah," Naruto replied. "I feel that I've done what I can here. I need to branch out and see what the world is like, and the Magic Knights seem like exactly what I'm looking for."

Silence settled again, interrupted occasionally by the cackle of the fire. All the while, Lily couldn't help but remember that this was their last night together for quite some time. There wouldn't be another chance to talk between just the two of them for some span of months, potentially even years. This was her final chance to learn who the man she had grown so fond of truly was.

"You know, in all the years you've lived here, you've never once shown us your grimoire." The statement masked the true question poorly, but straightforwardly asking to see somebody's grimoire felt weirdly wrong to her. Grimoires were personal to the wielder, so it wasn't taboo to ask to see another's, but it wasn't a practice that many partook in.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Is that a problem?"

"No, not at all. I've just always been curious as to why that is."

The boy finally conceded. _Maybe it's finally time to open up,_ Naruto thought. He had spent the better part of three years avoiding questions of his personal life for reasons that he couldn't truly justify to himself. Here beside him was a pure-hearted woman eager to learn about him, and for the first time since he had met her, he decided to indulge in her curiosity.

"Do you want to hear a secret, Lily?"

"What kind of secret?" she inquired.

"An interesting one." Naruto unclasped the strap that held a book firmly on his thigh and retrieved it, holding it firmly. "This isn't a grimoire. I don't have one. Never did." His fingers grazed the ruined leather cover where his Jiraiya's name was once inked.

His copy of "The Tale of an Utterly Gutsy Ninja" had been one of his only relics from his previous life. During the Fourth Great War, the book had evolved from a keepsake novel to a creed – one that he happily brandished in a leather pouch in place of the grimoire that he never had. To him, the work of fiction had a far greater power than any that a mage's spell book could produce.

"This is a novel that my god-father wrote during his time in war. My parents actually named me after the main character." He smiled lightly. Four thousand years couldn't erase the image of his parents and godparents from his memory. "It didn't sell well, and he followed it up by writing porn, the perverted bastard; but I've always thought this novel was his masterpiece. It was the work that showed me the maturity and wisdom hidden within him."

"I'd love to meet him one day."

"He died a very long time ago." Lily grew visibly solemn at the statement, and Naruto immediately soothed her distress. "I don't let it bother me that much anymore. If he saw me sulking around feeling sorry for him he'd probably turn in his grave. I try to honor his memory every moment that I can instead. He died so that peace could be attained, and I plan on following through with his legacy."

"He sounded like a great man," she surmised.

"You'd change your mind if you met him," Naruto joked.

Lily chuckled. "Would you tell me what the book is about?"

Naruto smiled, and Lily could see that it was one of the few genuine smiles that had graced his visage since he had come to the church. He began a translated reading of his favorite excerpt while Lily made herself comfortable leaning on his shoulder – a platonic gesture that the two had come to enjoy together.

Lily had soon become enamored in the tale that Naruto was weaving, finding a numbing comfort in the rhythmic rise and fall of his shoulders coupled with the vibrations his voice caused throughout his chest.

Soon his voice found the end of the passage, and the story dissipated with the breeze of the night. Perhaps that was where it should stay. Memories of ancient past weren't for the daylight; never something to be expressed in the comfort of the sun. No, they found their home in the dark, surrounded in a cacophony of crickets and secrets.

"You know, it's also occurred to me that I don't know what magic you use, either. All the powers that you've shown have been a mix-and-match of different magic types, and I can't pinpoint an exact one out of any known archetype."

_Good,_ Naruto thought. The man had made sure to keep a reserve on his higher end techniques while under the scrutiny of the townsfolk. There had already been occasions of mages with the ability to sense magic becoming distraught with the magicless foreigner who could still cast spells. He didn't need them to see the scope of his destructive power or to realize that he was drawing on chakra, not magic energy.

Additionally, if the kingdom could witness the raw, carnal power that he had stored away, he was sure that a summons would be sent for him to report to the Capitol to explain his abilities, and there were simply no events following that scenario that didn't end with his mind being searched and his immortality being discovered.

Thus, he never risked it.

"My magic is being a jack-of-all-trades," he teased.

Lily chuckled a bit. He always seemed so dedicated not to discuss anything personal about himself. She wondered how somebody could become so close to her and yet so distant.

"But how do you cast your "jack-of-all-trades" magic so efficiently without a grimoire, then?" she pressured. If this was the last night she would be with him for an unknown amount of time, she was determined to get some information out of him. She couldn't very well claim to care so much for somebody and not know a single thing about them.

"I don't know," he replied. "It's always just come naturally to me, I guess."

Naturally, the explanation didn't satisfy Lily in the slightest, and she found it increasingly difficult to keep her patience. Her selfish desire for answers was beginning to overcome her sense of empathy and secrecy. Perhaps her desperation clouded her politeness, but it had been a long while since she could say she had desired something with such passion; and right now, she desired answers.

Naruto could see the childish pout forming on her face and let out a chortle, causing the younger woman to separate from his shoulder and playfully hit his arm.

They bantered for a little while longer, and before either realized it, the sun was peeking its way through the windows of the chapel. The stained glass cast brilliant shades of color onto the walls and floors, and for a few moments, Naruto let himself be lost in the beautiful hues.

Lily instead stared up at him with intent, examining the oceans of his eyes and the terrain of his cheeks one final time. Maybe she was trying to memorize his face, as if it was the last time she would see him. Perhaps she was afraid that the moment she blinked he would be gone, and she would be left alone at night again.

She didn't know herself.

There was no explicit desire behind it. His departure wasn't the loss of a lover or even the next chapter in a good friend's life. It was saying goodbye to a family that she wasn't quite ready to say goodbye to.

Asta and Yuno's journey was one that she had seen coming since their childhood. One that she had come to terms with. She had watched them grow from children to adults, seeing herself more as a mother-figure to them than anything else. She had raised them and recognized their journey as a necessary one for their development into adulthood. With Naruto, though…

Naruto was a peer. A brilliant, thoughtful, charismatic man that she had incidentally latched herself onto. He made her feel grounded and safe in a world that was everything the opposite. He gave everyone in the village a figure to aspire to, and she was no exception. His advice was wise beyond his years and compassionate down to his core.

He was funny and kind and a ray of light in a place that desperately needed one.

She would miss him dearly. More than she could put into words.

Without notice, she felt tears welling up, and Naruto finally looked from the colors on the walls and stared her in the eyes, seeing the strain in her mind and giving her a soft smile of understanding. A tear fell and he used his thumb to wipe it away from her cheek, only causing another to run down her other cheek.

Lily found herself embraced in a hug whose warmth she couldn't describe, and for the first time in a very long time, let herself cry. She wrapped her arms around his torso and held on as tight as she could, hoping that if she didn't let go, he wouldn't leave.

Naruto felt the desperation in her touch and lightly stroked her head, whispering words of comfort to her. He didn't try to stop her crying. It was something that she needed. A bittersweet end to the nights that were for only the two of them.

* * *

The odyssey to the capital was harsh and nostalgic for Naruto. It reminded him of his treks to and from the Hidden Villages, when terrain would change abruptly and weather conditions always bordered their climates' extremes.

He even found the constant bickering of his two companions charming to some extent, reminded of himself and Sasuke in their youth. Though he broke up their quarrels if they ever went too far, he concluded that a healthy rivalry between the two was exactly what they needed to grow stronger.

Hell, if it worked for Sasuke and him – as horrifically dysfunctional as it was – why couldn't it work for another two of similar standing?

Before long the dirt paths gave way to cobblestone roads as an enormous walled city bounded into view. Asta – as with most things – was utterly enthralled by the sight along with Yuno, who kept his expression on a much tighter leash.

It was far different from the Leaf, yet Naruto enjoyed the familiar feeling of an energetic town ripe with patriotism and sincerity, nonetheless.

Their journey finally came to a close when the trio entered the large brick archway of the examination arena. Once the boys had breached the inner field, things instantly took a turn for the chaotic.

For one reason or another, the captains of the knights saw it fit to use some rare species of bird to make initial examinations of the magic levels of the prospective recruits. Within seconds, both Asta and Naruto were flocked with dozens of avians, indicating their severe lack of magic reserves. The conduct with which the birds conducted themselves, however, was the difference between night and day.

Asta ran fervently around the arena, desperately trying to save his face and shoulders from being nicked by the birds' beaks. It drew a small laugh from Naruto and a pitiful smile from Yuno.

The birds flocking on the sage, however, instead perched on his shoulders and head, nuzzling into him as if seeking warmth. He surmised that it was due to his connection with nature energy, and instead of swatting them away, carefully reached into his pack and pulled a loaf of stale bread from his travel rations, tearing pieces off and letting the birds peck at them as they pleased.

This action did not go unnoticed by a certain man in the sea of children, who, before he could make his way towards Naruto, was run into by the turbulent mass that was Asta. Within seconds, Asta was grabbed by the face and lifted into the air.

With all eyes in the arena on Asta and the man, Naruto let ring another laugh at the expense of his companion. If this was what the capitol would be like every day, he was sure that he could come to enjoy it.

When the commotion ended with the large man disappearing into the corridors outside of the field, a fanfare of cheers and applause erupted, drawing Naruto's eyes from the birds on his shoulders to the seats adorning the upper deck of the seats in the colosseum. There stood nine figures, among which was the man who had disciplined Asta not moments ago.

Most of the birds flew away at the start of the noise, leaving only those still gorging themselves on Naruto's rations, seemingly unaware that their brethren had already evacuated. The sage took this time to have a seat on the ground, easing himself into a lotus position and still happily enjoying the company of his new friends while absentmindedly listening to what a man in the balcony was saying.

Soon the helmeted man shouted some incantation and a hole seemed to open in the sky. From it descended the roots of a tree, which molded and perversed themselves into the shapes of brooms – a single broom for each of the participants.

After a broom was laid gently on the ground in front of him, Naruto dismissed the rest of the test after hearing the rules. He could fly, sure. Throw on his Six Paths Sage Mode and he could probably hit Mach one by the time the rest of the examinees could mount their brooms.

Yet, he felt no need. This wasn't the place to pull out some divine power and show his superiority over those who were testing with him. He didn't need to outshine anybody here at the art of broom straddling.

Rather, while the other candidates were trying to maintain what little balance they could manage in the air – or, in Asta's case, attempting to achieve liftoff – he stayed seated, feeding and stroking the birds around him, content with failing this part of the examination. He had heard that the last stage was a mock battle test, and _that _was where his true colors would shine.

His inactivity, however, did not go unnoticed by the Captains watching. A majority cast him aside as either a talentless wannabe, while others cursed his seeming disrespect for the sacred rite that was being administered to him.

Only three Captains had no such thoughts, all watching him speculatively in their own right.

_How is it those birds are so passive towards him? I already know he has little to no magic power, but shouldn't they be attacking him rather than coddling him? _William thought.

_How is this child so content with completely blowing the first part of the exam? _Charlotte thought.

_I wanna fight this guy,_ Yami thought.

There was something about him, Yami saw, that none of the other potential recruits had. Though he looked carefree, his guard was up. The blonde's hand was constantly hovering a pouch on his right thigh, which the captain assumed contained some type of weapon. Furthermore, if the other captains looked closer, they could see the boy's eyes constantly darting around the arena. What he was searching for one could only guess, but somehow, Yami _knew. _

_Escape routes, strategic points, evacuation plans. He sized each and every one of us up the moment he laid eyes on us. Our physical capabilities, blind spots, fighting styles based on physicality. He has the fortitude of a seasoned veteran._

Yami took the last drag of his cigarette, flicked it on the floor and stomped it out. He formed a relaxed smile and let the smoke billow through his teeth with the exhales of a chuckle.

_This kid is something else, I can already tell._

Naruto soon sent the birds away, with the test ending poorly for both he and Asta. Soon many other tests followed.

Shooting magic into a brick wall? Naruto didn't think he had many techniques that would suffice for the task without obliterating a large chunk of the floor as well.

Hitting moving targets? He sent out a few kunai which all hit bullseye, but he could tell it wasn't quite what the captains were looking for.

Create a small figure with magic? A little wood style would've done the trick, but he didn't need them to think he was related to that tree-magic user in anyway. So, Naruto piled up some small rocks into a small tower, excitedly showing Asta and Yuno how high he could get it until it toppled to the ground with the placement of a small pebble at the apex.

The trio laughed a bit at the antics, much to the dismay of many of the captains watching. Still, Naruto was happy to give Asta a bit of relief from the frustration he was surely going through.

Finally, the last test was announced. A mock battle between participants to ascertain their fighting capabilities. Naruto took a look at both Yuno and Asta. Yuno held his calm demeanor well, most likely entirely confident in his capabilities. Naruto was certain that whoever was unfortunate enough to fight the kid would regret it for the next few days.

He felt the same for Asta but looking at the boy told a different story than Yuno's confidence. He must have been shell-shocked at his lack of ability in all of the previous tests. It was most certainly draining whatever poise he had regarding his capabilities.

Naruto took the opportunity to put his arm around Asta's shoulder and whisper closely into his ear.

"Listen to me, Asta. You've been preparing your whole life for this moment. You know as well as I do that with your physical prowess and that sword of yours, you'd mop the floor with any of these chumps. So, stick your chest out, keep your head up, and wipe those smug looks off of everyone's faces, alright?"

Asta looked over at Naruto and his defeated face became a feral grin. He nodded sharply, his confidence coming back to him, and he entered the arena for his bout.

And what a slaughter it was. Just as Naruto had predicted, Asta took the kid out in a single hit, erasing all doubts about his power to any of those in attendance.

Yuno came later, cementing his prodigal status and earning the respect he deserved from the captains.

Soon most of the fights had ended, with Naruto standing alone in the center of the arena. The sound conclusion of the examinees was that they would rather stick with fighting the magic that they had seen during the exam than risk fighting the foreigner who could handle weapons. Even with the assurance that he had little to no magic power, an unknown threat was not one that you should jump into.

A good conclusion in Naruto's eyes.

Yet, there were no more recruits to be tested save for him, and he stood relaxed, staring up at the captains, wondering what their solution for this problem would be.

"So, uh, I wouldn't happen to just get a freebie and pass this part, would I?" Naruto joked.

He could tell that they didn't find it funny, so he turned to the other participants and scanned for any willing challengers.

"Anybody want to go again?" he asked.

He immediately heard the sound of a wooden chair creaking as he turned to the balcony. Getting up from his seat was the man who had a run-in with Asta before the tests had begun. He towered over the rest of the captains, wearing a tattered black cloak over his dirt-ridden tank top.

The man hopped the railing and landed with a resounding thud a few meters away from where Naruto was standing. He took a drag from a cigarette and blew the smoke, walking slow paces towards where Naruto was standing.

"If nobody wants him, I'll take him," Yami said.

Most of the examinees cowered backwards in fear at the sight of the man. He protruded a dark aura, one that Naruto could compare to the killing intent of Zabuza. He was obviously trying to frighten Naruto into backing out, but with hard head like Naruto had, there was always something to prove to an opponent who thought themselves superior. Instead, Naruto gave a genuine smile at the challenge.

Many of the captains began harsh whispers between themselves, wondering what Yami's plan through all of this was. The whispers were cut quiet as William raised his hand. He stood from his seat and peered at the two from his perch.

"This is quite unprecedented," the captain said. "Normally there would be another participant willing to fight again or we would have a junior knight on standby in cases of odd numbers. Yet, I'm interested to see what your answer to the provocation is, Mr.…?"

"Uzumaki," Naruto replied. "Naruto Uzumaki. And yeah, I think I'd like to have a go at the big guy. He seems strong."

Yami and William smiled at this. They both liked a guy who wouldn't back down from a challenge, no matter how insurmountable the odds.

William sat back down. "Then I see no reason to deny this request. Yami, don't hurt the boy too much."

"Sure thing," Yami replied grinning.

The combatants both turned to face each other, both eager to cross fists.

Naruto raised his voice. "I can tell that's a nice katana you have strapped to your waist. Wanna go with just swords for a bit?"

Yami would've grinned harder if his face would allow it. Instead it contorted into something that looked much more sinister. Still, Naruto wasn't lost on the sentiment. Yami nodded, unsheathing his sword and holding it to his side.

Naruto in turn let his right hand open wide, from which an abnormally long chokuto emerged from thin air, shocking everybody in the arena. There were murmurs of spatial magic and teleportation, all of which Naruto ignored. It had been thousands of years since he had faced any sort of challenge, and while he wasn't proud to admit it, he loved the thrill of a good battle.

Naruto and Yami locked eyes, and when the holler cried out for them to begin, they both dashed at each other.

From the initial speed that Yami held, Naruto could tell that he was using some type of magic to bolster his physical capabilities. Probably something similar to channeling chakra in certain body parts to augment your movement and power.

Still, Naruto wasn't a slacker when it came to physical conditioning, and he readily met the speed at which Yami began his assault.

They launched into their respective patterns, with Yami aiming for powerful attacks or parries to precede them. Naruto on the other hand favored evasion, weaving between strikes to find some sort of opening; and to Yami's credit, those openings were few and far between.

It wasn't just that the guy practiced. Naruto could tell this man had seen real battle. He had learned his weaknesses firsthand by way of getting wounded in a fight. He had the heart of a warrior – one that had both given and received countless blows.

But so did Naruto.

And this man was a few millennia too early to challenge a sage.

Twenty seconds of furious slashing had past, and Naruto was finally able to slip through the man's guard and aim a thrust to his chest. Noticing his fault, Yami's reflexes kicked in and his sword was suddenly coated in black magic energy, gaining speed and aiming its trajectory at Naruto's throat.

Feeling the sword getting closer, Naruto abandoned his attack and leapt away, landing in a crouch nearly five meters from his opponent. He looked up grinning, both excited by the fight and prideful that he had pushed the man this far. He now ascertained the purely physical capacity of the man.

"I guess the swords only rule is off the table now?" Naruto asked.

Instead of answering, Yami didn't relent in his attack, sprinting forward at the ninja.

_Great battle sense. Don't ease off the attack. If he had, I would have beaten him there,_ Naruto thought.

His chokuto disappeared into his right hand again, and in its place came five kunai, each with a corked handle coated in strange black markings. He stood up lightly and waited for Yami to diminish the gap between them. When the captain was just close enough to begin his sword swing, Naruto shot the kunai into the ground, forming a tight pentagon around them both.

Instantaneously, when Yami closed the distance between them and entered the ring of knives, Naruto disappeared in a blinding yellow flash, causing Yami to squint his eyes for a split second. In any normal fight, that split second would've been negligible due to the captain's reaction time. However, in this moment, that split second was all that Naruto needed to secure his victory.

The minute the flash erupted Yami felt a boot collide with his left temple. Once the impact had set, he immediately felt another shot straight in the solar plexus. Another in the right cheek. A knife cut through his arm. A fist to the ribs. A roundhouse to the back. An uppercut. Finally, a kick to the back of the leg forced him to a knee, which brought his head right to the level of a haymaker that sent him barreling across the field into the brick wall.

He slammed to the ground in a heap, trying to register just what the hell had happened. He painfully turned his head to where he was just standing and saw Naruto gingerly picking up the knives that he had thrown into the ground. Once finished securing them, he made his way over to the man he had just pummeled, and in a show of respect, offered a hand for Yami to get up with.

Yami eyed the smiling man standing above him, in absolute disbelief at what had just occurred. One minute he was poised to strike a lethal blow, and the next minute he was fifty feet away in a crater of the boy's making.

He couldn't help but laugh. The man let out a hysterical fit of laughter as he took the boys hand to get himself up. His laughter was occasionally disrupted by grunts of pain, and when he fumbled due to the strain on his legs, Naruto helped him steady himself, smiling while looking up at the captain.

"So does this mean I pass?"

Yami laughed harder at that. He had Naruto help him turn to the balcony and look up at the rest of the Captains. When his laughter died, all that was left was a smile far brighter than any of his comrades had seen him make.

"I want this kid," Yami said.

Many of the captains still sat in disbelief at what had transpired. The only evidence that anything had happened in the last stretch of the fight were a few seconds of blinding golden light followed by Yami being catapulted into the side of the arena.

Fuegoleon was the first to voice his disbelief.

"Did that boy just beat Yami?"

Muttered words of 'There's no way' and 'I can't believe it' were traded between the captains as William stood from his seat. While his composure was that of a usual stoic commander, his inner thoughts were a turmoil of confusion and attempts at figuring out what the hell this kid just did.

There were very few things that registered in his eye during the final confrontation. He knew that there were multiple flashes of the golden light, each followed by Yami receiving a devastating blow. The amount of power to send Yami hurdling away must have been tremendous – an even more surprising feat given the absolute lack of magic power the boy was deemed to have.

He collected his thought as best he could and raised his voice to make announcements.

"The winner of the final match is Naruto Uzumaki! Now, if all participants would gather in the center of the arena so that we may give you our placement offerings."

While the participants entered the arena – most keeping their distance from the blond-haired monstrosity who just demolished a seasoned veteran – a boy suddenly erupted from the corridors under the stadium seating, sprinting over to Yami.

"Captain Yami! Are you okay?" he yelled.

Nearing the pair of fighters, the boy took Yami from Naruto, letting him lean on his shoulder for support. Naruto stayed put as the guy took Yami into the corridors again, either for medical treatment or to take him back to the balcony for the placements.

While disappearing into the darkened hallways, Yami gave a wave to Naruto over his shoulder.

"That was fun, kid. Let's do it again next time when I don't go easy on ya."

Naruto chuckled at that. "Anytime old man. I haven't kicked someone's ass like that in a while."

Yami muttered something inaudible under his breath and he soon dispersed into the halls, reappearing on the balcony of the stadium as the boy with him helped him into his seat.

Every captain was staring at him, expecting some sort of inane excuse as to why he lost a physical battle – his specialty – to a boy barely out of his teens.

Yami, however, wasn't one for excuses at that point. When he realized he had the attention of each of his peers, he gave an exasperated sigh, leaning back into his chair as easily as he could to dull the pain.

"What do you want?" he asked rhetorically. "The kid was just that good."

The group grew even more distraught at learning that this wasn't just some ploy where Yami had taken it incredibly easy on his opponent. Before they could launch into a barrage of questions, Yami silenced them with another thought.

"I've never met somebody who could completely overwhelm me like that. I didn't lose because I did poorly. Hell, I got serious the minute I felt his first sword blow. I lost because that Naruto brat is leagues ahead of me in terms of physical combat."

"But just what was that power that he used?" Charlotte asked.

Yami narrowed his eyebrows. "I have no clue. One moment I had him, the next I was on the ground and hurting bad. Feel free to go see for yourself," he added.

With the discourse dying down in the box, the selection began. Many prospects received no offers from a squad. Some received one. Even fewer received more than that.

Naruto grew excited for Yuno when he got his choice of whatever squad he wanted and was equally as elated when Asta received an offer from the man that Naruto had beaten. They had finally achieved the first steps of their dreams, and he was thrilled to be able to witness each of them coming into their own.

When Naruto had stepped into the center of the arena for one final time, he could feel the eyes of each individual in the premises boring into him. William hesitated for a moment, then finally raised his voice.

"Number 166!"

Each captain shot their hand upward with blinding speed. It surprisingly took Naruto a little off-guard. He had expected offers from most – if not, all – of the captains, but the enthusiasm with which they were pursuing him was quite astonishing.

Still, without having known who would give him offers, he didn't put too much thought into who he would join. Now that he had his pick, he was able to narrow it down to two options.

The whole plan to fix the aristocracy could very well ride on whatever choice he made here. So he had to consider which story would read better to the masses: an unknown foreign commoner rising through the ranks of the Golden Dawn to become a prominent figure in society, washing away the prejudices as to what a commoner could achieve; or an unknown foreign commoner joining the misfit ranks of the Black Bulls, helping to raise the Bulls' reputation from a squad of nobodies to the most elite force in the kingdom.

Now that he thought about it, the answer was quite obvious to him.

He gave a smile as he yelled to the captains. "Thanks for all the offers guys but I think I'm going to have to go with-"

His sentence was cut short as a gentle hand was placed on his shoulder.

"Now now, Mr. Uzumaki. I wouldn't be too hasty with your choice."

Audible gasps quelled the silence that once dominated the arena. Naruto turned to look at the man who had interrupted him, standing face to face with a figure he thought he wouldn't meet for at least another few months.

"Lord Julius?" Naruto commented. "I wasn't aware that the standing Wizard King presided over the recruitment exams."

Julius gave an innocent smile and a look into Naruto's eyes that read: _You know exactly why I'm here._

"Well usually they wouldn't. However, I heard of some special talent beating a Captain in a duel and thought that I'd come have a private chat with the young man."

He gestured towards the exit of the arena.

"Why don't you come with me and we can talk a bit before you decide which squad to join."

Naruto didn't have much reason to hesitate other than the worries of government officials searching through his mind. He opted against his qualms, however, electing that a one-on-one chat with the current most powerful wizard wouldn't be an unwelcome experience to elevate his current standing.

"Sure thing," Naruto replied, following the man from the center of the field, only leaving those in attendance more confused, more shocked, and more enviable.

A comment from Yami gave concrete sound to the thought that every person was working their head around.

"What the hell was up with that?"

**This was something I started during April and just recently picked up to finish. That's why I'm not promising regular updates or anything of the sort. It's just something I thought would be fun. **

**Naruto's immortality and the scope of his powers will be explored in later chapters through his telling of his past and talking with the tailed beasts that reside in him and etc. etc. etc. **

**Chapter to my other story coming soon. Willingness to write comes and goes with me. Hopefully this kick lasts a little bit and I can bring you at least another few chapters of this as well as the next chapter of 'Return.' **


	2. Chapter 2

After a lengthier walk than expected, Naruto tailed Julius into his office, being motioned towards a quaint cushioned seat opposite an intricate futon, both separated by a far too elaborate coffee table nesting freshly brewed tea. Naruto made himself comfortable in the chair while Julius latched the door closed and strode towards the futon.

"That was quite the impressive fight you had with Yami. To beat him is not a feat to take lightly. I'd say he's one of – if not, _the _strongest mage in the country aside from myself," Julius said sitting down.

Naruto smiled gently at the praise, picking up one of the teacups and taking a conservative sip.

"I guess I got lucky then."

Julius chuckled at the response. "I wouldn't go _that _far."

"Oh you wouldn't?" Naruto quipped.

Julius grinned. "Yami doesn't usually fight new recruits," he stated. "In fact, a Captain offering to take part in the selection exams has never happened before. I'm honestly quite surprised the first captain to do so was Yami, given how little interest he has in these sorts of events."

It felt like the King was leading up to something, but Naruto couldn't ascertain what that was, so simply shrugged his shoulders and allowed the other man to continue.

"The only reason I see Yami volunteering for that sort of excursion would be one of two reasons: Either you somehow made him very _very _angry, or he saw something special in you out of all the other hundreds of recruits. While with his temperament I wouldn't doubt the first option, the look on his face after that fight leads me to believe the ladder."

The smile of the man opposite him grew even more unsettling while Naruto listened to his words. There was a certain tone to Julius's voice that unnerved the sage, as if he was withholding some delicate piece of information that the blond should already be aware of. It wasn't smugness, but more a one-sided assumption that both of them knew the underlying subject of conversation.

"Have you ever heard of _The Epic of the Rikkudo Sennin_?" Julius asked.

The question caught Naruto off guard. Never again had he thought he would hear Hagoromo's name, especially five thousand years after his passing. His very existence had already become myth by the time Naruto became a ninja, so he found it highly unreasonable that his legacy had carried into this new era.

Yet the utterance of the demigod's alias shattered any of those doubts away. A sudden desperation for answers swelled within the blond, only to be subdued by his forced stoicism. The facade as a foreigner was essential to the future of his desegregation of the classes, and any twitch of the eye or slip of the tongue could lead to his interrogator breaking through his carefully constructed veneer.

"Can't say I'm familiar."

Julius relaxed backwards into the futon, taking a generous gulp of tea before responding. "It's a truly enthralling tale about a sage who lived some millennia ago. He wielded ultimate power and rid the world of an ancient evil before disappearing immediately after. We wouldn't know of his existence had a group of dedicated chroniclers not detailed his exploits in a _very _old tome. The tale is famous really only among historians and scholars, but it's quite famous nonetheless – what with being one of the oldest texts to be continually translated and copied throughout history."

"Can I ask who these 'dedicated chroniclers' were?" Naruto queried. He tried not to let the fierceness of his question flow through his tone, but years of meditation couldn't erase all of his old self, and it seemed a hint of his more brash nature remained.

"They went by a pseudonym. The 'Five Shadows'. Ring a bell?"

Some sort of self-righteous attitude was slithering its way into Julius's questions that Naruto was beginning to become irritated with. He quickly retreated into reflection, trudging through the memories of the old world for any historians or literary marvels that he could muster. Sadly, his attention in the academy was more focused on 'how to survive through next month with six cups of ramen and spoilt milk' rather than modern or historical literature and composition.

_If Jiraiya were alive at the time I would've immediately assumed him, given I could bring myself to believe that he could write anything other than smut. But why does that word sound so familiar? Shadow. In the old tongue I think that would be 'kage' so the five – oh. Ohhhhhhhh. Tsunade, you're causing problems for me even now, huh?_

Breaking from his thoughts, Naruto addressed the King as nonchalantly as possible. "Can't say that I've ever heard of their work but thank you for the information. I'll be sure to use it at the next trivia night I go to."

"You're the sage, aren't you?" Julius asked.

There was a pause.

"Pardon?"

Julius answered without hesitation. "You're the sage. The immortal sage of legend."

"Sir, with all due respect I believe that you're mistaking history with mythology."

The King ignored him as he pressed forwards. "You match all the descriptions of the ancient texts. Blond hair, blue eyes, whisker marks on both cheeks. Teleports in a flash of golden light. Handy with bladed weapons. Immense strength. Immortal – which, I may add, would've thrown me off your tracks had you not materialized from nowhere three years ago in the land that was said to have been occupied by the Leaf Village some odd four thousand years ago."

"Not ringing any bells here, sir." Naruto leaned forwards, setting down the teacup and resting his chin on his hands. His visage changed into one of unbridled intensity as his gaze rose and met with the sovereign's. "But, for the sake of the argument, let's say that I was the sage. Why in my right mind would I bring that knowledge to light?"

"Because you can help this country!"

Naruto was suddenly underwhelmed. _Of course I can help this country. I've been planning it for three years. Why the hell else would I be here? _Thoughts of the King mistaking him as some overlord bent on taking over the world filtered through his mind, but he forced them out. Surely Julius realized if that were the case, it would have happened the minute he exited that cave.

He eased backwards into his chair comfortably, again dawning the feigned ignorance he had previously shown.

"Already working on that on my own. Still, think you have the wrong guy."

Julius still wasn't convinced, suddenly losing some composure. "Oh come on, your name is written in the damned book! Naruto Uzumaki? The sage of six paths? He who stole a god's powers to rid the world of evil? He colluded with demons in pursuit of the ultimate craft? He sealed himself away as to not let any of his enviable power fall into the wrong hands?"

Julius ended his tirade near out of breath, leaning forward with his hands clenching the wooden frame of the coffee table. His smile had long since faded into a visage of reckless desire, and Naruto fixed his eyesight to the King's and experienced a revelation.

_I've completely misunderstood the intent behind this conversation._

Julius wasn't mentioning this information as some heinous accusation. There was some sort of abnormal passion in his tone. Naruto suddenly felt less of an interrogated prisoner faking ignorance for a crime and more like a scholar unwilling to give answers to a student. There were details that Naruto had that the King wanted _desperately_, and Julius had already totally convinced himself that the blond was the answer to his questions.

_There's no convincing him otherwise, is there? _Naruto thought. _Even if I deny it and walk out of here now, there will always be eyes on me, waiting for my persona to slip and provide him with evidence. _

Naruto had grown tired of this back and forth, and finally understanding the futility of his denial, deferred to giving the man the information that he desired.

"Okay, none of _anything _you just said happened so might wanna update your libraries pretty soon."

Julius was exasperated, releasing his grip of the table. "So you _are_ the Sage of Six Paths?"

"No, I'm not," Naruto clarified. "Yes, I am a sage. Yes, I can use the six paths power. No, I am not the Sage of Six Paths. He died long before I was born."

"So you're not Naruto Uzumaki, but you are a sage of equal caliber?" Julius asked. The sage in question could tell that the information being given and the historical records of the kingdom were clashing in the monarch's psyche, making any attempt at understanding the true story difficult.

"No, I am Naruto Uzumaki. Born and raised in the village hidden in the leaves. I seriously do recommend getting better record keepers. A lot of the information you have from back then is _very _flawed."

"Then who is the Sage of Six Paths?" Julius pressed.

At this, Naruto started to become slightly annoyed. "Listen are we going to talk about the past all day or are you going to tell me why you called me here. I admit it. I'm the sage from those _heavily _embellished stories. What do you want?"

"The better question is, what do you want?" Julius resolved. "Why join the Magic Knights with all of your power – assuming that the records of said power are true."

Naruto's words shot forward. "Because I want to make a change to this incredibly flawed country and I can't do that by just pouncing into the limelight and doing it by force. I've seen it tried. It's never worked."

Memories of Madara and Pain crept their way into view, only to be cast back into the depths of his consciousness again. Naruto had no desire to remember the faces of those who had forced him into this torturously extended life. The only moment he wanted to recall them was when he could finally contradict their values and create peace through his own methods.

Julius held firm with his line of questioning. "But why our country? Why not diamond kingdom? They're obviously far more tyrannical and militaristic than we are. There's a much better argument to be made for changing their ways before ours!"

"You wanna know why I started here? Pure luck." The sentence almost made Naruto snicker. There weren't many supernatural concepts that he believed in. He'd already voiced his distaste for the concept of destiny and fate. However, luck? That was definitely something Naruto believed in, and he certainly felt that he had it in abundance.

The sage continued, "This country was where I came out of meditation. This country was where I made my first friends in my new life. This country was where I experienced the first prejudices of the new world. So I decided to start here. But believe me, I won't stop here. I won't stop until I've changed this entire world for the better."

"And what 'better' is that?"

"A world without those prejudices. One without classist values. One without endless war and needless violence." Naruto swallowed some grief before willingly divulging bits of sentimental information. "I come from a time where war was far deadlier than what you could ever imagine. I was thirteen when I first killed someone. I was the same age when my best friend put a hole through my chest. Four years later the end of the world came due to the arrogance of a dead man. I'll be damned if I let this world and its people see the same fate that my own did. Four thousand years can make you forget a lot, but I'll never forget the struggles I faced and what I would give to make sure others don't have to face the same."

Julius's countenance suddenly changed from critical to a much softer acceptance. The words that Naruto spoke seemed to have eased his distress at whatever intentions the immortal had when coming to the capitol.

"That's a hard dream to strive for," the King acknowledged.

"Good thing I have a thick skull and a can-do attitude," Naruto rebutted.

They both smiled at that.

A bit of time passed as Julius let the gears shift into place and his mind settled. Suddenly he let out a hearty laugh and let it fade with a hum.

"I can't believe that I actually found the Sage of Legend!"

Equally surprised, Naruto replied, "I can't believe they wrote a book about me."

With the interrogation aside, Julius adopted an expression of dynamism as he took a lofty breath for his new line of inquiries. "Well, with that out of the way… Please tell me more about your past! What was it like? What got left out of the history books? What was substituted in? Can you show me some of your power? Who is the sage of six paths if not you? Did you really steal powers from a god? Did you really collude with the demons?"

The sudden vigor in his tone surprised the sage, and Naruto spent the next few hours answering the King's questions under the promise that he would never openly discuss it.

"Who was the Sage of Six Paths?"

"An old geezer with much more power than he ever needed. He died maybe a millennium before I was born."

"Why was he called that?"

"No idea about the Six Paths part, to be honest. But apparently he was one of the first to completely master and utilize the sage arts from Mt. Myoboku."

"What are Sages and where is Mt. Myoboku?"

"Somebody who was taught to harness the energy within nature to heavily augment their skills and either nonexistent or very far away, respectively."

"Could sage arts be taught?"

"Only if you want to go through the horrendously painful process of opening your chakra coils _and_ you want to risk an early death by petrification."

"You turn into stone?"

"A stone statue of whatever summoning beast clan you're learning the art from, to be exact."

"The hell's a summoning beast?"

"Christ, Julius."

After _much _back and forth, the men reached an agreement where in the near future – with Naruto's begrudging permission – Julius would subtly replace the old texts of _The Epic of the Rikkudo Sennin_ with a heavily revised version written by the two of them. Julius was never to publicly reveal that Naruto gave the information to him and would pass off the new volume as an updated translation.

In exchange for this, Julius proposed a drastically modified arrangement to the subject of choosing a squad to join.

"You don't want me to join any of the squads?"

"Precisely."

"Am I at liberty to ask _why? _I kinda liked that Yami guy. He seemed fun."

Julius grinned at that, but nevertheless continued the complicated reasoning behind his new scheme.

"Restraining you to a squad would damper the influence that you could potentially have. If you joined the Black Bulls you would instantly lose favor with most of the noble populace – if any favor would have been given at all considering you're technically classified as a foreigner. Joining the Golden Dawn would've been the better choice, but you would be constantly paraded on a pedestal, effectively ostracizing yourself from the commoners that you so dearly want to help. The Dawn would ignore your status and play you as some lost nobility recently discovered.

"I trust that William would never try to strip you of your social standing, but I can't say the same for some of the higher-up elitists that he has by his side," Julius finished.

"So what, then couldn't I go with one right down the middle? The Crimson Lion's commander looked _quite _inviting if I read the mood correctly." Naruto remembered the intense desire present in the Crimson Lion's commander when he offered Naruto a spot during the exams.

Julius shook his head and laid bare the plan that he had devised. "What I'm proposing is the formation of a separate unit, completely independent from the nine Magic Knights Squads under my direct command. I would have you work with each of the squads separately, either aiding in training or assisting with missions. That way you could branch out with each of the squad leaders and-"

"-and gain influence with each of them at a much faster rate than I could if I were to go it alone," Naruto concluded. "I gotta say it's a clever plan."

Julius nodded proudly and continued. "Most of the Magic Knights Squads are headed by a member of powerful noble families: the Silvas and the Vermillions to name a few. Falling in good favors with them early will lead to a lot less trouble later on."

"So is this a tenth squad?"

Julius closed his eyes, attempting to find the correct wording for his proposed plan. "You could call it that. I don't think it would be very official, and there wouldn't be any members other than you. Think of it as a separate force from the Magic Knights altogether. I think it used to be called 'black ops'?"

Naruto's tone changed quickly from quizzical to some sort of intense professionalism that Julius had only seen in some of his veterans. "So you want me for assassination and sabotage as well?" the blond inquired.

Julius paled slightly at having seemingly offended the physical manifestation of god.

"I believe that I have slightly misunderstood what the term 'black ops' means. I wouldn't ask you to do something so heinous – unless you were willing and ready." The last part was added quickly, like the fine print in a hundred-page contract.

Naruto narrowed his brows. "You've got a darker side to you than I would've thought."

Julius let out a sigh that Naruto recognized. It was the sigh of a man burdened by responsibility. It spoke emotions that the King couldn't confide into others: weariness from his job and dissatisfaction from choices that he'd previously had to make. It was the same sigh that Tsunade and Hiruzen would let out after assigning missions with a low survivability rate.

"It takes a lot to run a kingdom," Julius admitted. "Sometimes decisions have to be made for the good of the people, even against my own morals."

Naruto empathized with the man's plight and absolutely hated that he did. Many tough calls had to be made for a kingdom to run prosperously. It was a shame that those calls often dirtied both your hands and your conscience. And once you made the call, there was no return. You had to live with the guilt and the hidden stain on your honor.

Finding his footing on the issue, Naruto spoke up. "Fine, I'll do this whole 'black ops' thing or whatever it is, too. However, I have a condition."

"Do tell."

"Any of these 'morally questionable' missions you assign me; I get to look at all the mission details and decide for myself whether I will undertake them. I'm sure you already have a much more directable covert ops group willing to heed your beck and call, which is why I'm sure you'll only send me on very _specific_ missions pertaining to my assets. If I don't think it aligns with my vision of the country's future, I will decline and there will be no qualms about it."

"That's a hefty condition," Julius replied, simultaneously weighing the benefits and detriments of Naruto's demand.

"Well you'd have to have some steel hanging between your legs to order around 'The Sage of Legend'," Naruto answered smugly.

"I didn't think you were fond of that title?"

"It's growing on me."

After some moments of contemplation, Julius steeled himself and made peace with his decisions. "I'd be a fool to push you any further. I believe that I've gotten what I wanted, and I hope you have as well."

He reached his hand over the table and Naruto firmly grabbed hold and shook. With that, the deal had been cemented. Still, Naruto caught wind of Julius struggling with something, and a questioning look from the blond finally gave the monarch courage to speak.

"Naruto, I wholeheartedly believe in your cause. If I weren't in such a volatile position, I would publicly announce your crusade and join you. But I have a certain standard to uphold and losing any ground with the nobles would only do more damage than good to what you're trying to accomplish. I'm truly sorry that this is the best help that I can give you."

"You don't have to apologize. Giving me my own squad was enough to put me in a good place."

"Well it's not technically a full-fledged _squad_."

"Let's not sweat the details."

They both exhaled in amusement at the mild teasing as Naruto expressed his recognition of Julius's dilemma. "In any case, I understand. The image of a leader is nearly as important as the leader himself. If you were to falter in any way, it could cause the civilian population to panic. Honestly this is the best way you could have handled this, and I thank you for how lenient with the rules you're being."

It wasn't something that Naruto was unfamiliar with. He'd spent much time learning from the memories of the tailed beasts while in his conscious hibernation. Through their eyes he'd seen many empires rise and fall, along with all of their kings and generals – benevolent or cruel; famed or forgotten; just or wicked. Naruto had witnessed them all, and at the present, Julius seemed to be the former in all of those cases.

The sovereign nodded approvingly. "As expected of a sage. You seem very wise."

Naruto waved him off, retrieving his teacup and draining the contents. "I just know the basics of how a sovereign should conduct themselves. I'm pretty sure that by the time I was sixteen I was being subtly groomed to take the place as my village's commander. Probably would've happened, too, had the whole 'end of the world' thing not blown up when it did."

"Regardless of that fact, you conduct yourself in a very mature manner for somebody who was sealed away since the age of seventeen. What are you technically four thousand and twenty years old now?"

"Give or take?" Naruto replied. He really didn't know himself at this point. He definitely hadn't counted the days he was in meditation, but the tailed beasts had been sure to let him know once every few hundred years or so came and went.

"I know a lot because I've seen a lot. In the first decade and half of my life there wasn't a single day where I didn't have to overcome some type of hardship. Each time I hurdled over a problem, I received some bit of insight into the workings of the world, and each hurdle from there became easier and easier."

"So you would say those events during adolescence and breaking through those obstacles were what gave you the knowledge to persevere?"

"What is this, therapy?"

"Sorry," Julius answered sheepishly. "It's not every day you find yourself talking to an _actual _living legend. I'm trying to squeeze every bit of information out of you that I can."

"Thanks for being so subtle about it."

Naruto poured himself another cup of tea and blew through the steam to cool it. He raised his eyes from the liquid to Julius and asked the question he'd been wondering since this topic of conversation had started. "So what do I tell the other squads when I see them? You know that they'll ask what force I joined, and I can't go around telling the Bulls I joined the Dawn and the Dawn I joined the Lions."

Julius alleviated his worries. "When you're not on undercover operations – which will be few and far between I promise – you'll tell them that you're under the orders of the Wizard King Julius to help as he sees fit. I'll provide you written confirmation and if they have a problem with it, tell them to come and see me."

"Doesn't that sound awfully suspicious?" Naruto justifiably asked.

"It would be even more suspicious to publicly grant you your own separate squad," the King retorted.

"I'd call it the Orange Foxes," the sage responded smiling.

"And what a squad it would be."

Both men laughed as the absurdity of their situation finally settled in.

* * *

Naruto later found himself lodged in one of the many guest bedrooms of the castle, being waited on by maids and butlers alike. He was served a late supper of an unfamiliar pasta and red sauce dish with a glass of some absurdly old wine. Alcohol had not been something he regularly indulged in, but he accepted it graciously, nonetheless.

The bed was obnoxiously soft, and though he felt no need to sleep, he enjoyed resting his weary bones all the same. The next day would be his start of squad assignments, starting with the Blue Rose, and working his way arbitrarily through each squad, and then cycling back through, taking every Sunday off for briefings with Julius.

At the request of Julius for some sort of an official uniform, Naruto opted for the creation of a plain white cloak outlined in rose red. Emblazoned on the front corner was the symbol of the Leaf: it reminded him to embrace the will of fire in all things he would have to do moving forward. On his back was a single large red line, gradually circling in on itself forming a much thinner and far more archaic form of the Uzumaki whirlpool: it reminded him that though much of his life stayed behind him, it was still a part of who he was as a person, and would continue to be as he struggled on in this new world.

The cloak had arrived at his room before him, and Naruto was pleased after trying it on in the mirror. It hung lower than those of the official squads, hanging at about his waste and covering most of his torso save for the opening at his front he could hang over his shoulders at his wish. It reminded him of the cloak he had always dreamed of wearing during his Hokage tenure.

_Better late than never, I guess, _he thought bemused.

Julius had also provided him with some other new clothes in order to "Give you a more professional look as well as get you into something you'd feel more familiar in." Naruto admitted that he hadn't been paying particular attention to the quality of his clothes over the past few years considering they were mainly worn during farm chores or housework.

Still, what Julius had so _kindly _gifted him felt a bit over the top.

The leather boots were incredibly comfortable and had obviously taken much time to inlay with steel toes and a nice little nest on the inside for him to hide a kunai or two. Regardless, he felt there was no reason for them to reach almost the entire length of his shin to his knees. He couldn't feel any real armor or padding inside, so he assumed it was some weird aesthetic choice that he had never been exposed to before.

The pants were some sort of mildly elastic – _Is this denim? _Naruto thought. They fit much better than the stiff denim that was rampant in his own day, but how _well_ they currently fit made him slightly uncomfortable. He would have to ask later how Julius and his staff knew his measurements so accurately.

The shirt was loose. _Very _loose. And longer than what felt necessary. He was forced to roll up the sleeves to his elbows and tuck the shirt into his pants lazily. Still, there was a far too deep V-neck – unwarranted by the climate, may he add – that finally cut off near the middle of his sternum. It wasn't to the point of being inappropriately extreme, but it was still a look that would make Sister Lily blush.

While trying to find any sense of his own touch in the look, he opted for a pouch made of burlap hanging from his belt on his right rear that contained a few of his Thunder God kunai and a single tan scroll. Inside the scroll was nested dozens of others, each containing food, water, weapons, clothes, or any other provision he may find necessary in his day to day life. With it, he was prepared to leave the city for extended missions at a moment's notice.

After dawning the new attire aside from the cloak, he felt that it fit quite comfortably and provided a surprising amount of maneuverability. Yet, when staring at the outfit in the mirror, a single, incredibly confusing thought crossed his mind that would stay until he met with Julius again tomorrow.

_Why in the fuck am I dressed like a Pirate?_

* * *

With some experimentation into a few newly developed seals, the morning had come quickly for Naruto. He garbed himself in his new clothes and swiftly made his way towards Julius's office, giving the courtesy of a gentle knock at the door but exercising his authority as a living legend by entering on his own accord anyways.

The King himself was at his desk, rifling through the paper bane of every sovereign. When Naruto approached the man, he could spot his name on many of the documents that Julius was signing and shuffling.

Soon Julius looked away from his work and observed Naruto in his new uniform, giving a stiff smile.

"You look good. How do they fit?" he asked as a pleasantry.

"They're comfortable and I can move well," Naruto responded, "but can I ask where you got the design for these?"

Julius set his pen down and relaxed into his chair, answering. "The closest nonfiction book we have dating back to your era was recorded about 300 years after the writing of _The Epic of The Rikkudo Sennin_. We hadn't thought that the difference in wardrobe would have been that drastic. Do you not like it?"

"It's not that I don't like it," Naruto answered. "It's quite comfortable and I appreciate the effort whoever made this obviously must have put into it. However, 60 years was the difference between the Leaf wearing straight up metal plates as armor as opposed to flak jackets. Can I ask the name of this book?"

"_The Voyage and History of the Pirate Vessel 'Santa Pinta'_."

Naruto let out a hum of realization. "Ah, so the deckhand look was intentional."

"Sorry. We can get new ones made by tonight," Julius responded apologetically.

The King finally turned back to his paperwork and started elaborating its contents aloud.

"I've finalized the documents for the creation of your unit as well as your instatement into our military. I've also had a schedule created for you to balance your training with the squads equally."

Naruto whistled, clearly impressed.

"Damn, all that in one night?" he asked awestruck. "And Granny always complained about how difficult paperwork is."

Julius chuckled at the comment and continued signing documents. "I had my assistant take care of the scheduling and most of the creation of the unit. All I had to do was sign off on those. Declaring you Military Personnel was the easiest part. I always keep a sheet or two handy in my desk, and they're pretty much done with your name and my signature."

"Ah, so your assistant did all of the work," Naruto surmised.

The King looked up annoyed at the comment. "Ya know if I wasn't blinded by my admiration for you, I'd have threatened you by now."

Naruto let out a hearty laugh and replied, "Sure you would, young one."

The King stood up from his desk and walked around, motioning for Naruto to follow. "Don't forget that not counting meditation time you're only twenty. Now come on, I'm going to introduce you to the Captain of the Blue Rose. You'll be with them for the next three days."

Naruto turned and followed the man with a fading laugh and joking "Yes sir," much to Julius's chagrin.

The walk let Naruto see new parts of the city and become acquainted with the environment. They passed food stalls and modernized stores before soon appearing at the gates of the Blue Rose's headquarters. There at the entrance stood the blonde woman he had seen on the balcony yesterday dawning a firm solute and her helmet at her left side.

As they approached, Julius waved the woman to ease and began introductions.

"Naruto, this is the captain of the Blue Rose Knights, Charlotte Roselei. She's been in the Knights for many years now, so please treat her with respect. Charlotte, I'm sure you're already familiar with Naruto Uzumaki."

Charlotte let out a stern, "It's a pleasure to meet you," and held her hand out which Naruto took in a firm handshake. The sage noticed a slight hesitancy when he grabbed her but thought nothing of it as they let go of one another.

"Likewise," he replied.

Julius smiled at the two seemingly getting along.

"Fantastic. Charlotte, Naruto will be assisting in training however you see fit. Naruto, I simply ask that you don't hurt any of our Knights. In your hands, they could prove to be rather… fragile."

With that, Julius sent himself off and left Naruto and Charlotte to enter the training quarters. It proved rather plain in Naruto's eyes. It was a dirt clearing in the corner of the base with targets near one wall and rings outlined with chalk presumably for sparring. It was a large space, but without any people using it, it felt rather empty.

Furthermore, Charlotte had been completely silent the entire walk over, and the atmosphere was beginning to become awkward for the social ninja. Thus, he attempted what little he could at starting a conversation.

"It's a nice training field," he said drily.

"The Knights are just finishing their breakfast and will be here soon. Then we can begin our training," the captain curtly replied. Her eyes seemed unnecessarily cold and her sentences were sharp and rigid. It was almost as if she really didn't want to be around the boy.

With that feeling, Naruto went out on a limb and said, "I get the feeling that you don't like me very much."

Charlotte had no hesitation in her response. "Correction. I don't like men."

Naruto chuckled at that, deciding to tease her a bit to ease the tension.

"Well good for you. I hear it's not easy for those of your preferences around here but I respect you making a stand."

She turned to him coldly and nearly lost her composure at the remark. She quickly gathered her wits and shot a sharp response back at him.

"Imbecile. Your mind is horrifically vile. This is a prime reason as to why I loathe your sex."

Naruto feigned a confused expression and pushed further.

"Sex? At least allow me to buy a fine lady such as yourself dinner first. I feel it would only be appropriate."

With that, Charlotte's body betrayed her and an embarrassed blush emerged on her cheeks. She grew distraught and struggled to find a response to such a vulgar comment. No man save Yami had dared to speak in such a forward way with her, and thus she had never properly learned to simply ignore this type of dialogue. Before she could quip back, Naruto interrupted her, satisfied.

"Ya see?" he smiled. "That's the most emotion I've seen from you since I got here."

"My frustration with you shouldn't make you happy!" Charlotte exasperated.

The boy shrugged.

"Better than the glares you were giving me before."

The Captain grew more irritated at the remark, and quickly began composing herself, turning away to hide the redness of her cheeks.

"If you weren't under Julius's protection I would have struck you by now."

"Ya know, he said something very similar this morning. Why do you all resort to violence so willfully?"

"So we can strike down ignorant beasts like you!"

Naruto genuinely laughed at that. He could tell that Charlotte wasn't entirely sure of whether he was joking or not, and judging by her looks and noble status she must have been one of those girls whose first greetings from many men were marriage proposals. Being uncomfortable around guys she'd never had proper conversations with was understandable, but it seemed that she took that feeling to a needless level.

"I was just joking," the boy admitted, "but I won't apologize for the teasing. I've sensed some negative emotions from you since we shook hands. It was prejudicial, and I don't believe you've given me a fair chance to even make a good first impression."

"Those disgusting remarks _were_ your first impression! How would that ever be considered appropriate?"

Naruto shook his head, still with a grin on his face.

"My first impression was the awkward handshake and greeting. Everything after that was for my amusement. Again, the handshake didn't feel right," he concluded.

Charlotte grew confused at his remark and voiced her opinion, still horrifically annoyed at the blonde's shrewdness.

"How does a handshake not feel right?"

"I wasn't lying when I said I can sense negative emotions," Naruto indulged. "There were some weird vibes coming from you the minute we clasped hands. I'd just like to know why that is, considering we'd never spoken before and I thought we would get along swell."

"My personal feelings are none of your concern," she replied.

"They are if we're going to have to fight together some day."

Charlotte scoffed. "Our relationship will remain strictly professional. Friendship between us is not only unnecessary, but impossible after your previous words."

Naruto was glad that she said that. "I wouldn't jinx yourself if I were you. I have a reputation of accomplishing what people tell me is impossible."

After he spoke, Naruto heard the doors of the barracks break open and turned to see dozens of knights file out into the training ground. Each wore the blue robe signifying their allegiance to the Rose Squad and looking through each of the soldiers Naruto could pick out a pertinent feature shared by each member.

They were all women.

_No men, huh? This lady really takes her dislike of guys to the extreme._

Naruto faced back towards Charlotte and exuded a warm smile.

"Let's get to training then, shall we?"


	3. Chapter 3

**I don't usually do extended Author Notes, but here's before the chapter starts. The previous chapter "Interlude – The Journal of Naruto Uzumaki" was not a mistake upload, and I understand that it was not very well received. Regardless, these sorts of chapters will be included and expanded upon in order to scope out not only Naruto's character but as well as his abilities, which I know I left purposefully vague. They are glimpses into Naruto's past and how he became the Naruto that we know in the story. **

**I do also promise that these journals will make an appearance in the main story at some point, though I will not promise that will be any time soon. Please be patient and realize that it isn't an idea I came up with on a whim. I know that not many – if any – of you come for the Interludes, so I will promise that any Interlude chapter will be quickly followed by a Main Story chapter, and I appreciate that you all are reading this story and bearing with me. It may seem sloppily put together, but I am taking some rather bold and confusing stylistic choices in terms of the layout of the plot and how information about Naruto is going to be presented in hopes to make it more unique than what I've written previously. **

**Again, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy that I finally put out two consecutive chapters that aren't spaced months apart.**

* * *

It was later in the evening that Naruto found himself in a quaint restaurant drinking whatever passed for alcohol in this world. He was oddly charmed by the building's décor, glancing his way over the mainly wooden interior. The tables were chipped at corners and each had their own unique nicks and marks adorning them. He felt that it gave the place its own character. Each dent was a flagon slammed down after a contest and each stain was the remnant of a beer spilled after being shot into the air for an excited toast.

Above the chips and stains were hearty customers, eating and drinking their fill after tiring days of whatever their professions were. Some Knights sat in a corner booth, no doubt griping about the military life and bragging of their exploits. A few farmers from outside the city walls were hunkered at a round table dealing cards and complaining about crop yield or something of the sort.

Barmaids carried mugs of ale all about, with constant shouts of new orders surrounding them. The barkeep looked exhausted yet elated at the business the night was getting, and the customers were just as happy to drink away their pride and dissolve into drunkenness.

And across from Naruto sat another blonde – a metal helmet adorning her head and a blue cloak fanned across her torso.

"I still can't believe you thought it appropriate to invite me to dinner," the woman spoke stoically. Her eyes were closed as she sipped conservatively at a cup of tea. Across from her, Naruto took another swig of his ale before responding.

"I still can't believe you said yes."

Charlotte finished her sip, setting the cup down and eyeing Naruto skeptically. "I was on the fence," she replied curtly.

Naruto grinned in amusement, before quipping back.

"Yet here we are."

Charlotte shrugged her shoulders indifferently, turning her attention toward the barmaid arriving with their meals. Naruto thanked the girl for his stew, while the Rose Knight gave a sharp nod in acknowledgement before taking a miniscule bite of her salad.

Their banter devolved into a short silence with the delivery of their food, and not one to bear with silent company for too long, Naruto continued their previous conversation.

"Tell me, if you were so hesitant to join me, then why come in the first place?"

Charlotte set her fork down on the plate and crossed her hands into her lap. Despite all of Naruto's attempts at turning the night into a friendly dinner between colleagues, his guest seemed intent on reverting any kind of lax chitchat back to its original course – a course of her own design, mind you.

"I make it a point to get to know my higher-ranking comrades at least on a basic level," she explained. "It makes it easier to judge your alignment and personal interests."

"I remember you saying that you were only interested in a 'professional relationship,' or did I hear wrong?" Naruto playfully shot back.

Charlotte gave him an annoyed glare before reiterating her statements from earlier in the day.

"I assure you that this dinner will go no further than professionalism," she stated.

Naruto feigned boredom, leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes.

"Well, that's no fun," he complained, taking another dive at the bowl of broth sitting in front of him.

"Tell me your story."

The request was quick and staggeringly bizarre. Naruto was almost shocked at how abruptly his companion had changed the course of the conversation. It forced the man to remind himself that unlike him, the woman sitting a few feet away had come here with a strict agenda – to lightly interrogate her comrade and judge whether his political affiliation and future goals aligned with her own.

"Going straight for the jugular, huh?" he asked in a mockingly accusatory voice.

"I assumed you knew I came here with no such thoughts of pleasantries?"

Naruto dropped his spoon back into his bowl of stew and reclined into his chair, making himself comfortable for the long conversation that was surely to follow.

"What do you want to know?"

And thus, a short verbal sparring match ensued, with both parties questioning and answering each other almost as fast as the other could get their words out.

"Where were you born?"

"Island full of villages off the continent. Came here by boat a few years ago."

"Does this island have a name?"

"Not one you'd recognize."

"Have any family there?"

"Not anymore."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Was it recent?"

"Parents died the day I was born. Never had any siblings."

"Then how did you grow up?"

"Orphanages for the first few years of my life. Then my surrogate grandfather bought me an apartment and let me live there."

"Was he the one who raised you then?"

"No, no," Naruto admitted. Though Sarutobi was a fantastic influence on his early life, the man had a responsibility to the village first and foremost. "He was the leader of the village. He didn't have time to take care of an orphan every day. I'd see him a few times a week for dinner mainly but he had a lot to take care of on his end."

"Then who raised you?" she queried.

"Myself for the most part. Learned how to read from a chef who liked me. Learned how to fight from the soldiers in the village. Eventually my godfather found me in my teens and took over as best he could. The man surely wasn't ready to guide a teenager into the right life but I respect him for doing his best for me."

Charlotte looked confused at the mention of a godfather, and before Naruto could elaborate on the relationship between himself and Jiraiya, the woman bounded forward with another question.

"Where was he during your childhood?"

Naruto took a moment to think. Truthfully, most of Jiraiya's dealings before taking Naruto with him on his extended training trip were kept completely under wraps. He assumed that most of the time was spent gathering information on Orochimaru and subtly manipulating the politics of the ninja villages. A badass and noble profession, to be sure, but not one that Naruto was indulged in until after the Sand's invasion.

"Running a spy network, mainly," he finally answered. He then smiled and chuckled, saying, "It's between that and crashing brothels and writing porn but I'm assuming he split his time accordingly."

Charlotte visibly recoiled at the thought of a man not only paying for carnal pleasures but also detailing and selling those exploits in masse. So, as she had always done, she voiced her disgust appropriately.

"He sounds repulsive," she cringed.

Naruto shrugged lightly. "He had a good heart."

"Enough to raise a child?" she exasperated. "Where did you spend your teens? In whorehouses?"

The series of questions left Naruto uneasy. Of course Jiraiya was a pitiful pervert. Nobody in all the Elemental Nations would dispute that after spending five minutes with the man. However, those same individuals would also testify to his strength, courage, and utter devotion to the peace that he spent his life trying to achieve.

The small stabs at his legacy were beginning to test the limits of how patient he could be with the woman. Say what you wanted about the man, but he had a very deep spot in Naruto's heart. Any defamation of his true character was one of the only things that could truly set the sage off anymore. Still, he did his best to keep calm under the intense questions and answered as best as he could.

"Well not exactly. It's not like I ever went with him," he explained.

"So he abandoned you to go partake in intercourse. To me that sounds like an absolute failure of a-"

"Careful what you say next, Charlotte," Naruto warned. Four millennia of meditation had done wonders for his temperament. However, no matter whether it was four millennia or four eons, there was only so much libel towards his godfather that the whiskered man would take.

"What, that your godfather discarded a child in place of some cheap alcohol and prostitutes?" she explained.

She tended not to be so cruel or personal in her beratement of men. However, the inappropriate comments Naruto had made earlier in the day coupled with the new information about his dysfunctional upbringing had numbed her brain of empathetic reasoning, causing her tongue to get the better of her conscience in the moment, confidently spouting, "He sounds like a horrid excuse for a human being."

"He was a good man!" Naruto bellowed swiftly.

The tavern grew quiet, all eyes leading to the blonde man with a white knuckled fist pressing into his table. Naruto seemed to realize the disturbance he caused, quickly releasing the pressure of his clenched fist and turning his head towards the crowd with an apologetic smile.

"Sorry folks, didn't mean to disrupt your meal," he sheepishly replied. Fishing his coin purse from the brown leather satchel hanging from his chair, he grasped a healthy amount of coin and motioned for a barmaid to take it from him. "Next round's on me!" he shouted jovially, inciting an excited response from all the bar's patrons.

Quickly after the cheers died he turned back to Charlotte, his carefree visage gone in lieu of a more serious and irate man.

"I apologize for letting my temper get the better of me," Naruto hesitated before continuing, "but I should warn you never to speak ill of my godfather again. He may have had some hobbies that I was less than enthusiastic about but he was the closest thing I've ever had to a father and he died proudly in the service of his village fighting for a cause the he believed in until his last breath. A cause that he entrusted to me and one that I will claw my way towards until my own death. I will not stand for his name being slandered."

The conversation died as Charlotte gazed stupefied at the man across from her. The manner with which he could switch between expressions shocked her, and the tone he spoke about his guardian with caused a hesitation in her response. She did not often believe she crossed the line when speaking her opinions about the opposite gender, but she could tell that this was not a preferable manner with which to conduct conversation with a new subordinate.

Thus, for one of the rare instances in her life, Charlotte opted for an apology rather than standing her ground on such a topic.

"I apologize for any offence I may have caused," the woman spoke repentantly. "I did not mean to strike such a chord."

She noticed that Naruto's fury seemed to have died, however his annoyance with her remarks surely did not. The Knight hoped that her insensitivity would not spoil the professional mood that she had set as a precedent earlier.

"Just ask your next question," the sage spoke with disregard. His investment in the discussion had significantly declined after the wayward Captain's remarks about his godfather, and it was illustrated in his new mannerisms.

What followed was a continued interview by Charlotte, but rather than having the feel of a verbal contest between two witty opponents, it took the mood of a one-sided cross-examination aimed at a despondent witness. Still, the Rose Knight Captain continued on in attempts to salvage at least a portion of the conversation.

"What were you doing on the island before you came to the Clover Kingdom?"

"Fighting a war."

"What role did you play?"

"Fought on the front lines."

"Was the war won?"

"Yes it was."

"Then why did you come here instead of staying with the people of your village to help rebuild?"

"Because they're all dead."

The statement left the blonde woman inwardly somber. Still, she desired to press onward. Despite learning so much about her new subordinate, she couldn't escape the feeling that there was still so much more to discover. His answers had been honest – she assumed – but still left so much to the imagination in regard to the goals of her meeting him here.

His story was not one that she had heard often, and especially not in the upper echelons of the Magic Knights. He was a far cry from the noble born recruits who ascend the ranks quickly due to their genetically inherited skills.

No, Naruto was a man who was born in incredibly unfortunate circumstances and forced to adapt or die in the face of insurmountable odds. His childhood seemed riddled with misfortune and mystery, and she hadn't even gotten to ask about what he had done in the Clover Kingdom before joining the military.

_At this rate, the meal may be over soon, and my inquiries are not yet satisfied in the slightest_, she thought. _Every answer he has for me leads to only dozens of other questions. Perhaps a deeper, more meaningful query may lead the conversation in the right direction. _

"What cause did you mention earlier? The one that your godfather died fighting for?" she asked.

Naruto paused, before looking directly into Charlotte's eyes with an intensity not previously seen on him. She hoped that she hadn't come across yet another bout of anger fueled by the mention of his godfather.

He did not show outrage, however, instead calmly answering her question while maintaining his fierce gaze.

"Peace among nations," he muttered.

With that, Naruto had decided he'd had enough of entertaining his comrade for the night. It was clear that what should have been a pleasant dinner had quickly escalated into an uncomfortable and painful situation that he had no desire to be a part of.

He slid his seat back and stood from the table, dropping a few coins on the beer-soaked pine to cover both of their tabs and picking his satchel from the back of the chair.

"I'll see you tomorrow for training, Charlotte," he stated, walking out the tavern and into the keen air of the evening.

* * *

Kakashi had once told Naruto that what he lacked in actual intellect, he made up for with an innate battle sense. It was always as if the minute he stepped into a fight, his academic intelligence was replaced by his skills for deduction and fast paced strategy. He may not have been commander material like Shikamaru and the Kage, but his real potential was in assessing somebody's fighting style mid-brawl and finding ways to counter it.

With that, he was able to look at that magic being used by the Blue Rose Knights and offer insight into their weaknesses and how to compensate for them.

A Knight who specializes in creating golems?

"Don't always focus on making one powerful monster. Sometimes using the same energy to create dozens of smaller ones can overwhelm an opponent enough to provide an opening. There's always power in numbers."

Another who can use her fire magic to not only produce flame but cause a rise in temperature to certain objects?

"Remember, humans can only survive up to a certain temperature before inducing heatstroke. If you're in a bind, try raising the guy's body temperature to dangerous levels. It'll knock 'em down in a heartbeat."

"So you have basic water creation?" Naruto asked another Knight.

"Yes."

"What's the correlation between the amount you can make and its accuracy?"

"The more I make, the less accurate I can be in its placement. I usually create large defensive barriers since general placement of the spell would be irrelevant because of how large the defense is," she stated.

"How accurate could you be in creating, say, a liter of water?"

"Within about 30 meters I could place it anywhere I wanted."

Naruto stood inquisitively for a moment. "Hmmm…Have you ever tried creating water inside of somebody's lungs?"

Needless to say, the second day of training with the Rose Knights had been going well for the blonde sage. Whereas yesterday was spent mainly gauging the group's physical fitness, today was dedicated to finding ways to improve the use of their magic.

Though magic power and chakra were differently nuanced and utilized, the fundamentals were very much the same. With this realization, even though Naruto couldn't use Magic Techniques himself, their similarity to shinobi techniques allowed him to help the soldiers find different, more creative ways to use their power while not sacrificing reserves or in-battle effectiveness.

The Knights were both entranced and horrified at some of the ideas that their new trainer was conjuring up. The implications that such mundane spells as 'Create Water' or 'Increase Temperature' could be used in such lethal ways led to some warranted gossip as to the true nature of one Naruto Uzumaki.

The day had come and gone with little incident. Charlotte had remained in the main compound of the Rose Knights' base, apparently tackling some important paperwork that had to be done for Julius this week.

It was all the better, in Naruto's opinion. He was never one to truly hold grudges, and over the night he was even able to forgive the Roselei for the words that she spoke against Jiraiya, garnering them as what most people would think when he told them that he was raised by a sex-addicted porn novelist.

Her judgement of the Sannin solely based on a single description of his worst qualities, however, didn't sit well. It reminded him of the villager's treatment of him during his childhood. Nobody should ever be judged before meeting them and getting to know who they truly are as a person.

Nevertheless, Naruto also knew to let bygones be bygones, and staying angry at the woman would only fuel needless animosity between them during their careers. The next time they met, he would be as civil as possible and apologize again for his outburst at dinner the night prior.

Unexpectedly, the same woman that he had just been thinking of emerged from the barracks just as the Knights were entering to relax after their training. She spotted him across the courtyard and coolly strode towards him, stopping a few feet away.

"Mr. Uzumaki," she addressed him.

"Charlotte," he nodded back.

"Mr. Uzumaki," she started, "I would prefer if you would not call me by my first name while in a professional setting."

Naruto chuckled lightly at her still high-strung attitude before responding.

"Oh, so can I call you Charlotte when off-duty?" he joked. The conversation was much less awkward than he had assumed it would have been, most likely because the Blue Rose Captain couldn't help from still letting her stoicism weave its way between the threads of her person.

"I believe you know what I meant," she asserted.

"Yes, yes I know what you mean Captain Roselei," he admitted. "I'll accept on the condition that you refer to me as Naruto. None of that 'Mr. Uzumaki' stuff. I was never one for honorifics."

"Fine then, Naruto," she nodded before continuing. "I came to apologize for my behavior last night. It was untoward and unnecessary, and I apologize again for any offense that I may have caused in our conversation. I want nothing more than to have a productive relationship that can benefit the glory of the Clover Kingdom."

It was true that Captain Roselei was a little bit rough around the edges when it came to social interaction – especially with men. However, the sage could tell that those words were probably the most heartfelt thing he may ever get the woman to say while not inebriated, and admittedly appreciated how far aside she must have had to set her pride to apologize to a man that wasn't above her in rank.

"That sounds good to me," Naruto replied. "Glad that we're on the same page."

"If there is anything I can help you with, please do let me know. I would like to be of as much assistance to you as I can while you become oriented with the Magic Knight Squads."

Naruto hummed consciously, as if he hadn't already made up his mind as to what favor she would owe him in exchange for her remarks at last night's dinner. She was a curt woman without a doubt, but he didn't want to blame the woman for different idiosyncrasies in her identity based on different upbringings.

He settled that if even Nagato deserved a second chance, then Charlotte was more than warranted a chance of her own to make amends.

"How about one more shot at dinner? With platonic intentions, of course," he assured. "It could give you a good chance to catch me up on the names and profiles of the other Squad Captains."

She gave a thin smile to his offer – probably the biggest smile she may ever give him, Naruto surmised – and responded, "I accept your invitation."

* * *

"I heard you had dinner with Charlotte earlier this evening," Julius stated while monotonously stamping through stacks of paper.

The young man across the table from him shuffled through papers of his own, organizing them into neat piles and handing them to the King before grabbing another stack to organize.

"Don't act like you weren't there," Naruto replied, piercing the corner of the sheets in his hand with a staple. "I felt you trailing us all the way from the Blue Rose's Base." He handed the documents over the man behind the desk who snatched them away.

The mage dipped his quill in ink again, lightly tapping the keratin on the inside of the black jar and continuing his work.

"I take the relationships between my underlings very seriously. Especially those in leadership positions," he explained. After roughly inking his signature at the bottom of the paper, he set the quill down and folded his arms, leaning his head against the leather of his chair and closed his eyes to rest them.

"I take it tonight went better than last night?" he questioned.

Naruto finished organizing the last of his share and dropped them lazily on the seat next to him, assuming a similar position to Julius in his own seat. He let out a tired sigh.

"Far better, yes. She informed me of the different Captains of the squads and who she gathered they were as people."

"And?" the king asked expectantly.

"She seemed to have to hold her tongue about Yami, so I'm still confident that I like the guy," Naruto snickered before continuing. "Most sound like good people. Others less so, but I've never met a person with a stick so far up their ass that I can't physically pummel it out."

"Naruto, please refrain from pummeling the asses of my men," Julius jokingly pleaded.

Half-joking, at the least. From the stories that Naruto had told him of his youth, perhaps his fists truly _were _a cure-all drug for being a complete ass. However, the sovereign didn't believe that there was room in the Military's budget to conduct a full clinical analysis and scientific study on the thesis now titled 'How Hard Does Naruto Have to Punch a Silva to Make Them Love Noelle Again.'

The blonde sage interrupted the mage's musings with a new question.

"So where am I at after tomorrow?"

The king heaved a sigh and leaned forward towards his desk again, opening a drawer and rummaging through its contents, finally pulling out a gridded paper outlining the days of the month. After taking a cursory glance, he relayed, "You're with the Lions after tomorrow, take Sunday off, and then you're with the Dawn on Monday."

Naruto nodded before inquiring again. "Any word on some new clothes? Not that I don't like the pirate look, mind you. I personally think it adds to my rugged handsomeness," he jested, causing a light chuckle from his company.

"Still," he continued, "I do have some design choices if you wouldn't mind me making some requests."

The King grinned.

"By all means, Great Sage," he spoke exaggeratedly, "I am but a humble servant to your desires."

Naruto frowned and tossed the stapler he had been holding onto at Julius, who himself narrowly dodged it while laughing casually.

"Alright calm down jackass," Naruto replied. "I'll write down specifications later. You don't have to rush them, but I would enjoy not meeting the leader of the Golden Dawn looking as if I had just finished sacking a town."

The two continued their ribbing into the early morning, happy to have found a friend in each other while living in this strange world.

* * *

**If you want a better explanation, the addition of the interlude chapters is something that I've been debating with as I've been working on this chapter the last few weeks. I knew that most readers would be confused and upset by it and would rather just have strict chapters following the main story and nothing else. However I took the risk, and while the payoff for the reader is minimal right now considering the story is in its infant stages, I ask that you trust me as a writer on this and please allow me to do some weird things that I think could have a potentially interesting addition to the story later on. **

**If by the time the journal begins to be interwoven into the story and you all still do not enjoy it, I'll take the L and admit that it was a bad idea. Until then, I hope that you do not judge so critically while the purpose of these chapters has not yet been fully revealed. So I ask that you do not be too hasty in your judgements and again I will reiterate that all Interlude chapters will be quickly followed by main story chapters so that you don't have to bear through something that you may not enjoy right now. **


	4. Interlude: The Journal of Naruto Uzumaki

**Journal of Naruto Uzumaki, Entry **?:

Two weeks ago Jiraiya and I received orders from Tsunade regarding the Mist. According to Jiraiya's network of informants, the leader of the rebels – Mei Terumi – was pushing for a final stretch to end the bloodline wars and take control of the country. If she succeeded, she would have had enough territory and support to be instated as the official leader of the Mist, and the rebels would evolve into the standing military.

When Jiraiya's operative got word of the plan, they made themselves known to Mei and apparently offered our services in the battle as some sort of "assurance". According to the man himself, Jiraiya really wanted this war over and was willing to join the front lines to do it. So, after sending word to Tsunade and waiting the three days it took to get orders back in some fishing village on an island three clicks from the Land of Water, we were assigned an undercover operation to intervene in the battle and insure a rebel victory.

Now, apparently the situation was far more delicate than I anticipated, and Jiraiya briefed me on the logistics when we were packing up to leave. From what I was told, if information leaked out that Konoha ninja helped secure the rebel victory in the Mist, then rumors around the nations would start about potential alliances between the villages forming. Such rumors could lead to our enemies forming alliances with each other in preparation for a possible war.

I didn't need him to explain after that. Having warmongering enemy villages sitting on powerful alliances and massive armies doused in blind patriotism didn't bode well for the potential of neutrality between the five nations.

So, we had to change the way we looked and completely overwrite our identities. And of course, even that had some complications. I didn't have the luxury of Jiraiya's knowledge of Tsunade's perfect transformation technique. The academy version I was taught was simply an illusion, while Tsunade's was a full-fledged physical transformation, and we didn't have the benefit of time for me to learn to use it.

Jiraiya's solution had me sitting in front of a mirror, lathering black oil from the toads into my hair to change its color. My headband came off, and a cloth mask over my mouth and nose covered my birthmarks.

Then came more, shittier rules: no rasengan, no clones, and no talking.

Now, I understood the no rasengan rule. I was one of three people alive who knew the technique and considering I had been placed in the bingo book about three months ago, using it would be a dead giveaway that whoever used the technique was from the Leaf.

I even agreed to the whole no talking deal. I'm a loudmouth by heart. It's in my blood – may you rest in peace Mom. My mouth tends to move faster than my brain, and I've been in more than one occasion where I just spurted out whatever I thought and got a fist in the gut courtesy of Sakura. So that one was all good to me.

The no clones rule pissed me off. Now, it's not like the rule is baseless. I understand that creating hundreds of clones would hint that whoever made them would quite literally _have_ to be a Jinchuuriki considering the heavy chakra strain. At the least the person would have to have oceans full of chakra at their disposal, and that ruled out most of the living population.

But wouldn't it be fine if I only used two or three? It's not like I couldn't fight without them, but I've almost instinctually involved them into my more lethal style of fighting, and I was afraid that if I completely cut the technique out of my arsenal I'd put myself at a severe disadvantage during critical moments of combat.

Jiraiya cast that argument aside, telling me that I was a well off enough combatant to not need to rely on numbers anymore. Bastard even told me to consider it a test to see what I could do with having my lifeline technique cut from my active team of jutsu.

It left me with my sword skills, a handful of barely lethal wind jutsu, and whatever I could come up with before the battle.

We arrived at the Mist the day after changing our identities. Mei Terumi met us at the entrance to their base of operations. I assume Jiraiya had sent her word about when we would arrive.

She was a very casual person, and as she led us through the camp into her own personal tent, I could see that despite her demeanor, the men under her command respected her a great deal. No matter what task they were busy with, when she walked by they dropped what they were doing to salute her. I remember seeing a Gennin drop a crate full of weapons onto the ground in order to give her a full salute. Idiot broke the entire box open.

Even still, each time they saluted, Mei only waved them at ease and gave a warm smile to each of them. I could compare her to a much gentler Tsunade, but I feel that really the only thing they had in common was that they were very powerful women, so I guess that's a bit unfair. Plus, the redhead hadn't tried to strike me a single time during our walk, so she's definitely _not _the same type as Tsunade.

From there on and forward through the next ten days we would go over mission details and plans while preparing what little we could for the coming attack.

Yagura had been dead for a little over two weeks now, but that apparently hadn't stopped some of his high-ranking commanders to rally whatever dedicated troops they had left to capture a stronghold and hope to plan a counter attack or wait until some non-existent backup would show and help them out – which is highly unlikely considering none of the major villages were backing them and their force is the entirety of what's left of their army.

The loyalists had occupied a castle in the North-West corner of the country, about thirty kilometers from where we were and about two-hundred kilometers from the actual Hidden Village. It was a relic of an Uzumaki branch family who had taken residence here before the fall of the Whirlpool.

Needless to say the place was incredibly well fortified. It was built to withstand heavy elemental attacks due to sealing arrays on the outer walls – which were already a meter and a half of stone thick.

Luckily enough, due to previous sieges of the castle, there were trenches completely surrounding the perimeter of the castle. The plan was to make a slow forward charge into the trenches, establish control, and provide constant barrages of techniques into the walls until we could get some sort of full-scale invasion into the walls.

Either that or we would wait out the enemy until they either starved to death or surrendered.

Mei guessed that this could take anywhere from three days to six months depending on what contingency they went with.

That was way too long, and I did have a few ideas, but – couldn't talk, remember?

So I just kept my mouth shut and will let Jiraiya know about my 20/20 hindsight later.

During my free time on the base I was trying to craft some sort of weapon to compensate for the severe handicap I was being given during this mission; and I do think that I came up with something quite ingenious.

You see, with a lack of resources to transport war related items in, the rebels had taken to shipping their soldier pills in small leather bags that were tied with string at the top. Additionally, because of lack of military funding and proper disposal facilities, there were piles of shattered, rusty blades, knives, and shuriken lying in trash piles on the outskirts of camp.

With an idea, I went to work.

I crafted about ten to fifteen exploding paper tags, each designed to – once activated – explode on impact with a surface. I was generously gifted some adhesive from a leatherworker in the camp and wrapped the tags around the sides of the bags. Once done, I filled each of the bags with the shards of broken metal I salvaged from the scrap piles and tied the tops.

In theory, the initial explosion would kill whoever was closest to it, and even if there wasn't anybody in range to be killed by the explosion, the shrapnel sent flying from the blast would hopefully impale anybody in a certain vicinity. At worst, the metal flying could be lethal. If it wasn't, hopefully the rust on some of the iron would cause disease to spread through the ranks.

Jiraiya joined me in the training field to test the new explosives out. I activated the tag, threw it at a dummy sitting about a hundred meters out, and…

Boy were the effects devastating.

And boy was he impressed. In fact, so impressed at its potential lethality that he ordered me not to tell any of the men about my new invention, stating that war was lethal enough and we didn't need any new weapons of destruction in the world wreaking havoc.

For the first time in almost two weeks, I had agreed with the man. I didn't truly know the effect this would have on the enemy, but I knew that it was deadly enough that I wouldn't want the idea being passed on and potentially used against me.

We finally reached the last day before battle – today. Everybody has been on edge. I spent the afternoon helping whoever I could make final preparations in terms of gear. Once evening came, most men sat around campfires, eating, singing, and drinking, trying to enjoy what they knew could be their last night among the living.

I'd have loved to join them, but my ordered muteness sort of hindered any social ability I could have had. So, I decided to take the food I had been served back to my tent to eat and write for the first time in what felt like ages. Jiraiya wasn't in the tent, and I assumed he had been out having a great time with the other soldiers.

I set my chow down on a wooden box near the front wall and closed the opened flap, reached into my backpack to grab this journal, when I heard some rustling in my cot. I turned to see a _very _naked Mei, barely covered by my incredibly thin sheets.

Now, I may not have an amazing memory, but considering this was less than four hours ago and the memory is probably fucking _tattooed_ in my brain forever, I can quote the exact conversation we had. Word for word. And God damn it I will write it here just in case I ever get hit in the head and forget.

Mei: "Care to join me?"

Me: "…"

Mei: "Feel free to talk Mr. Uzumaki. I was told all about you by your older friend out there. You don't have to follow your vow of silence when it's just the two of us."

Me: "Uhhh, you're very naked?"

Mei: "You're very astute."

Me: "Can I ask why you are naked in my bed?"

Mei: "Isn't it obvious?"

Me: "What were you going to do if Jiraiya walked in instead of me?"

Mei: "I took a risk. I'll claim my reward now, please."

Me: "Now, not that this isn't a very welcome situation that you've placed me in, because believe me I'm ecstatic at the moment, but what brought this on?"

Mei: "A young, handsome new face not part of my army walks into my camp and you expect me not to have my share of fun?"

Me: "By all means, let's have some fun."

The first thought that ran through my head was: _Thank God for hanging around those hookers with Jiraiya or I would _not _know how to handle this situation. _It's true that on more than a few occasions I would join Jiraiya in his escapades to brothels. Not to partake, mind you, but more so that I could just retrieve his limp, drunk body once his night was over and take him back to our hotel.

While in those establishments I had to learn how to pass the time by talking to some of the workers, and by god were they flirtatious little minxes. Over some months it became a skill of mine to not flinch in the face of a naked woman or not to instantly shut down when one flirted with me and offered sex. Again, I never partook, but learning how to flirt back and not freeze up is a skill that I was very glad I acquired at that moment.

The second thought that ran through my head was: _This seems entirely unwarranted. _However, thinking back on how I remember Mei stealing glimpses of me when I'd take my shirt off to do manual labor or bathe in the river near camp, I concluded that no, this really wasn't unwarranted. In fact, it was a kind gesture of her to offer.

The third thought that ran through my head was: _Isn't she a little old to be going after a sixteen-year-old? _Not that I'm complaining. At all. I mean, I'll admit that I look probably a few years older than my actual age, and that's all thanks to my forced "proper" diet, a strict physical training regimen, and probably some genetic meddling from Kurama in terms of height and build.

Still, I feel like there's a perpetual case of adult kunoichi going after guys quite a few years their junior. Even though she's just a flirty seducer, I could probably count more than one time that Anko had offered me some sexual service and _actually _meant it. Even Shizune would blush every time I'd take off my shirt for some medical exam she'd have to administer which was just…I don't know man those times were weird. She's like my sister.

You could argue the case that I was technically a legal adult the minute I earned my forehead protector, but still, anybody looking sexually at a twelve-year-old obviously has some of their own personal problems they need to sort out. At least I'm sixteen, which is…better? Yeah. For the sake of the situation I was in, let's say better.

Regardless, again, not complaining on my end.

I only had one more thought before I gave into my temptations, and it was of the utmost importance to the mission that I considered these three points: _No rasengan? Check. No clones? Well, not__** during**_._ No talking? Already broken. No going back. Jiraiya would disown me if I did. _

So, I spent the past few hours passing the time with a _very _lovely lady in the hours before a battle where either of our impending deaths could occur.

Gotta admit, pre-battle sex is a pretty good stress reliever.

Ultimately, it was a fun time, and she seemed to leave quite happy. So here I sit, post-coitus, writing by the light of a candle. Jiraiya has long since retired in the tent of some other troops, probably carried there after passing out drunk.

I'm prepared for tomorrow. At least, as prepared as I can be. I know the risk, I know the reward, and I know what I'm fighting for.

I'm fighting for the chance to get lucky one more time with Mei.

More importantly, I fight for the persecuted people counting on the rebellion to defeat the loyalists and end their genocide.

But also the other one, too.

If I could have a battle cry, I think it'd be "I fucked your Kage last night! Now eat my dick like she did!"

Too much? What do you know? You're paper.

* * *

**Excerpt taken from the memoir "Soldier of the Rebellion – The Life of a Rebel Soldier in the Hidden Mist Civil War":**

**Chapter 14 – "The Boy in Black"**

Before the battle, a boy – probably no older than seventeen or sixteen – had been placed under my command. I protested heavily against this, telling General Terumi that where we were going, there was no place for a child mercenary. Still, against my wishes, she ordered his placement into my squad, saying that he was far more of an asset than a liability.

She promised me that he would prove himself worthy of being under my command. Even to this day, I regret doubting those words.

He was black haired and blue eyed, about as tall as the rest of us. He wore a mask, which I assumed had to do with some confidentiality in regard to mercenary service or the like. I would have asked his name, but I'd heard from the other men that he wasn't much of a talker and left it at a greeting and reiteration of the plan.

The mission for the first day of the siege was the capture the trenches surrounding the castle. The fortress' walls were coated on the inside with seals to strengthen them, most likely a relic of the Uzumaki family that once lived there. It rendered most of our ninjutsu completely useless during attack.

Additionally – and I wasn't aware of this until taking the rearmost trench – the walls of the castle were gargantuan in size. Far taller than any single shinobi could jump, even aided with chakra. Thus, our only option was to scale the walls of the castle and hope that our rear sharpshooters could take out the men at the top of the walls before they could rain kunai on us.

Before we stormed into hell, I had one last talk with my men on the edge of the clearing. We knew that what we were doing would most likely result in many of our deaths. A castle siege hadn't been attempted by a military in well over a few centuries, when the villages were nonexistent and the use of chakra still in its infancy.

We shared lighthearted words of encouragement, trying to ease our nervousness for the day. I even shook that boy's hand, telling him that though I didn't agree to him being placed on my squad, I hoped he made it through the day and could go back home to whatever he had waiting for him.

He didn't speak, of course, but only nodded at me in acknowledgement. I like to think that he wished me the same, but I'll never truly know.

With those words of expected parting, we steeled ourselves, heard the cry for advance, and began a sprint from the woods into the grass a few hundred feet away.

When we entered the clearing in front of the castle, the first volley instantly began. Prior to the engagement, each squad was issued a troop with an earth element, so that once each volley of projectiles was fired from the castle wall, the soldier would erect their own wall made of mud diagonally over the troops to cover their men. After the final knife would hit the ground, we would dash from cover, only for another volley to be well on its way.

We inched our way towards the trenches, deflecting whatever knives and shuriken we could to gain even a few feet before one of our men would have to erect a barrier.

It took twenty-three minutes and hundreds of total barriers to finally reach the forwardmost trench. Once the volley ended, we each dashed from cover and dove headfirst into the trenches. Once we were securely in, the earth specialists used what little chakra they had left to construct walls in the space between the trenches to provide us shelter from the loyalists on top of the castle.

I could tell that the pace we went was torturous to my men. The earth users were already near exhaustion, to the point that many couldn't even stand. The others regained their breath and did once overs of each other to make sure that nobody had been hit by a stray kunai or shuriken. Some had been, but with what little medical personnel we had on the front lines, they had to make do with whatever support we could offer them.

One of my men had begun using fire techniques to cauterize wounds, while others were tearing sleeves from their uniforms to tie around appendages and stop bleeding.

The only thing we could do about the injured was wait for the medical corps to arrive in the trenches, but as I gazed at the battlefield behind us, my hopes for them joining us anytime soon ran slim. Some of the mud walls closest to us had been crumbled in half by explosive tags, leaving only those in the far rear still intact.

When trying to peer over the dead bodies of my comrades, I spotted the second wave ready to embark. I salvaged binoculars from the pack that one of my squad-mates had thrown to the ground of the trench to get a closer look and could not identify any combat medics in the squads.

What was more was that the second wave had a far less amount of earth users in their number. The plan relied on utilizing the mud walls already created from the first wave and only creating new ones if necessary. Whereas there was one earth user in the first wave for every five men, the second wave only had one for every ten.

This wouldn't cut it with the large gap between the occupied trench and the last line of walls that were sturdy enough to defend against another constant barrage.

Apparently, the boy in my squad had noticed the same fault in our plan as I had, and after what I assume was some heavy deliberation on his part, he clapped his hand on my shoulder and said one of the only two things he would say to me during our campaign.

"The second wave will be slaughtered if the volleys keep up! I'm going to clear those parapets so that the med corps can make a safe dash here and tend to our wounded. Send a runner towards our rear to notify them. You'll only have a few minutes!"

I protested his decision, of course. The kid had been in the battle for a half an hour and was already volunteering for a suicide mission of his own design. Yet, I could tell that even though he had been placed in my squad and respected my concerns, he didn't take my words as orders considering he wasn't enlisted in our military and didn't face a court-marshal at disobeying.

So he hopped to the back of the trench, vaulted over the walls in front of us, and made a mad dash for the walls of the castle.

When I lost sight of him over our cover, I took out a kunai and feverishly dug a small hole through the dirt in front of me, trying to see what he was hoping to accomplish.

By the time I could get a line of sight on the boy, he had already scaled the wall of the castle and was engaging the enemy. There was no calling him back at that point, and with his distraction, the volleys had stopped enough for me to send my fastest man towards our army and inform them of the situation.

I peered back through the hole to see the boy subduing the last few enemies on top of the parapet. He looked back towards us to see if our men had started their advance. I looked back with him, and saw that whatever soldiers were coming to join us were only just beginning a charge towards the trenches.

Peering back through my hole, the boy had turned back towards the inside of the castle, dodging projectiles and jutsu alike until he finally leapt from the walls into the ground portion. Explosions and shouts erupted from the courtyard that he jumped into. On more than one occasion I heard screams of silence be cut short, and I hoped that he was doing the devil's work in there.

Upon seeing that the medics were nearing our position and no more enemy troops had taken roost on the perches of the walls, I rallied whatever men from the first wave that could still fight and hopped the walls over the trench, screaming behind me for whatever earth users that came in the second wave to follow.

Within the next two minutes we had taken the trench nearest to the castle and set up enough defenses that I finally considered it a viable position.

The screams inside the courtyard had stopped, yet after taking quick peeks at the castle walls, still no loyalists had taken new positions. I wanted to believe so badly that the boy was still fighting in there, preventing the enemy from stopping our advance, but my realist nature got the better of me and I assumed him KIA.

Regardless of my doubts for the boy, he had bought us enough time to fully establish control of the trenches outside the castle. The hours required to complete this operation were estimated at forty-six before the battle had begun. The death toll was projected in the hundreds. Thanks to him, we had done it in forty-five minutes with thirteen casualties.

If I had ever met somebody fitting of the title of "War Hero", in that moment I could have said with certainty that boy was one of the most deserving of anybody I'd met.

* * *

**Chapter 15: "Birth of a Legend"**

There were three separate trenches that we had taken, running parallel with each other and the western wall of the castle. Using whatever earth users had persevered through chakra exhaustion, we dug covered tunnels that ran perpendicular and through each trench to establish connection between them.

Soon after, a runner came to me with word that Mei had requested my presence in the rearmost trench. I ran to her, knowing that she most likely would want an explanation of what had occurred to jump-start our plan so effectively.

"What happened during the first wave to help us gain so much ground so quickly?" she had asked.

"That boy went over the top of the trenches, scaled the wall of the castle, and cleared the parapets of the enemy so that we could move our medical personnel forward and treat the wounded. I took it as an opportunity to charge forward even more. I took whatever men could run and we dashed for the trench closest to the castle. We took it, armored it best we could with mud walls, and dug tunnels to connect the trenches."

"Where is that boy now?"

"I don't know, ma'am. Once he cleared the parapet he jumped into the courtyard of the castle and I haven't heard anything inside the castle since," I replied.

"So either he's killed them all or this is a bait tactic to try and have us scale the walls and fall into a trap." I could tell that she desperately wanted to consider the first option, but as one of her high-ranking officers, it was my duty to sometimes give her what was most likely the cold truth rather than let her dwell on

"It would seem so ma'am. Though, if I may say so, though I respect the boy's ability as a ninja, there are well over four hundred men fortifying that castle. He couldn't have possibly killed all of them, so I think it's fair to assume him KIA and that we consider the second option more heavily."

She deliberated for a moment before speaking her orders.

"You're to wait until nightfall. Gather your two best men and once the sun sets scale the wall and do some reconnaissance. Tell me what you find about the state of the enemy army."

I travelled back to the forward most trench and asked around for any stealth and infiltration specialists for a mission that night. After a few minutes of interrogation I was presented with a small, skinny boy and another, even smaller woman, both who will be referred to by their nicknames Nook and Dancer in respect for their privacy.

Nook was a skinny boy – one could almost mistake him for frail. He was unremarkable, and to be honest I hadn't ever met or heard of him before that day. However, that seemed to be a testament to his skill. He had a knack for moving almost completely unnoticed to the naked eye and had a body that could hide in any ""nook" or cranny" which he desired.

Dancer moved elegantly, and even on her approach I could barely make out the sound of her footsteps on the dirt. Her guard was up, even in the trenches that we had secured. I knew she was a fine soldier, and even put her name in as my recommendation for the Black Ops Commander after the war was over.

I briefed the two of the plan, and the rest of the time in the trenches was spent preparing. At 11:30, the mission began.

We first exited the sides of the trenches closest to the forest. Using the foliage as cover, we steadily and stealthily made our way to brush nearest the castle. Upon observing that no new guards had taken post atop the walls, we dashed for the stone and scaled the cobble slowly. We opted out of chakra use, afraid that a sensor in the enemy forces could detect the surge and alert the inside troops.

Thus, we made do with the cracks and displacements in the stone and eventually broke the apex of the walls. Once atop we confirmed that no hostiles had taken hidden residence on the walls still, and carefully peered into the lower courtyard to assess the enemy's state.

I saw carnage.

The boy truly had done the devil's work.

Dozens and dozens of bodies were thrown along the courtyard, entrails and fluids spilling from various newly made orifices. The scene was horrific, and I am afraid I cannot accurately describe what I had seen that day because words do not do the description justice.

My team hopped into the courtyard to examine the battlefield more closely. Bodies were torn in half. Organs were spilled from their flesh casings. It seemed that more blood covered the yard than the mud that laid under it.

A sight that I have still not forgotten to this day was a loyalist soldier, propped up sitting against one of the stone walls, as if taking a small rest from the battle that had taken place prior. His uniform caked in dirt and blood, a kunai still clutched in his left hand, and a gaping, uneven hole where his face should have been. It looked as if he had taken the brunt of an explosion directly to his maw.

Still, despite the nauseating gore, Dancer, Nook and I checked every corpse in the courtyard, trying to find the body of our young mercenary. After examining forty-two bodies, he was still yet to be found.

Our only clue was the trail of bodies leading from our location towards the castle's main tower.

We kept formation and stayed hidden in the shadows of the tents and buildings leading to the main throne room. All the while Nook spared nervous glances at me, still in shock at what a single soldier had done to decimate an entire army. A single-battle confirmed-kill-count on this scale hadn't been seen since the Fourth Hokage annihilated the Stone forces during the Third War and lived to boast about it. The awe of what that child mercenary had accomplished did not escape me, but the fruits of his labors had yet to be seen, and I was never one to be an optimist.

Still, I did truly hope that the boy was alive. It was simply getting harder and harder to believe as we approached closer to the main compound. Each dead hostile was a potentially lethal wound for the kid. As the enemy bodies stacked higher, so too did my perceived chances of him having died.

We reached the doors to the throne room with ease, having only encountered the insect-ridden corpses of the loyalists. The titanic oak doors were open enough for a single person to slip in, and above the steel that clasped the thick wood planks together, half a dozen kunai were strewn into the lumber along with signs of explosive impacts.

Upon hearing no noticeable movement inside of the throne room, I signaled my men to make a quick leap inside and prepare for immediate defense. The possibility that this was a trap had suddenly sprung back into my mind, and I decided a few hours before the mission that today was _not_ the day that I died.

We bounded into the throne room, expecting some sort of confrontation with a loyalist general or a band of his furious troops.

All we saw was more of the same.

Gore. Blood. Weapons and corpses discarded across the floor.

And a young boy, black haired with a uniform to match, firmly planted in the throne at the farthest end of the hall. Surrounded by bodies.

I ordered Nook to secure the area while Dancer and I sprinted towards the child, praying to every god that we could think of that he was still alive.

Dancer did as detailed of a medical exam as she could while I tried my best to stir him awake. Neither of us were medically trained, but he would have to make do until actual combat medics arrived in the castle. His breathing was dangerously shallow and there was enough dirt and blood covering his body that I couldn't quite discern where any of his injuries actually were.

Blue eyes shot open after Dancer performed a sternal rub on him, and his hand nearly flicked a kunai towards my throat before he recognized who I was. It seemed that there was some adrenaline still pumping through his system, which felt like good news to me. Before he could slip back into sleep I did my best to get any answers from him that I could.

"Kid can you hear me?" I asked frantically.

I guessed that he might not have had the strength to talk, and he just dumbly nodded in my direction before shoving his head back against the stone rest of the throne. I was worried that he may fall asleep again and not wake up this time so I did my best to keep him awake with questions and some persistent snapping my fingers in his ears.

"What happened here?"

I don't think he understood me the first time, because he seemed to turn to me confused, so I reiterated the question different ways until he finally wheezed out the second of two things that he would ever say to me.

"Mei said I couldn't use clones."

His head fell back again, and I couldn't help but laugh in disbelief. Dancer and I continued to do our best to find and bandage his wounds until Nook finally landed softly behind me relaying that all hostiles in the castle were assumed KIA.

I signaled him to head outside the throne room and fire two flares: one green to indicate that the castle had been successfully taken, and one yellow to request immediate medical attention at our position.

Soon the Medcorps arrived and carried the warrior away on a stretcher, never to be seen by my eyes again.

I don't think the possibility that this boy was even capable of such a feat hit me until that moment. However, when I truly realized what must have happened during those hours he fought his way through the castle, the weight of the implications crashed onto my shoulders.

A single boy had just ended a six-month siege in under 20 hours.

I do not believe that those reading this memoir truly understand how significant the debt is that we owe this child mercenary. However, ask any soldier on duty at that siege and they will tell you the legend of 'The Black Butcher' – he who jumped without abandon into the jaws of Hell and saved the lives of countless Mist troops that day.

* * *

**Journal of Naruto Uzumaki, Entry **? +1:

I could tell that Jiraiya wanted to scold me for how reckless my plan was. Hell, I'll be the first to admit that jumping into the courtyard wasn't on the list of my most brilliant ideas ever. But I'm an improviser by nature, and he couldn't deny the fact that while it definitely _was _a stupid idea, it _worked._ And Anko always told me that if the plan seems stupid, but works, then it's not stupid.

I think that's why, instead of giving me an earful and beating the ever living shit out of me for worrying him, Jiraiya just kind of laughed exasperatedly, expressed his pride in my achievement, and wandered off muttering something about 'Your son taking up your stupid ideas, you damned blonde shitbag'.

Here's to you dad, you glorious bastard.

To be honest, most of the battle from inside the castle is a blur to me now. After taking a very annoying kunai to my thigh a few minutes after jumping from the wall, I kind of just saw red and let my instincts take over from there. All I know is that I killed _a lot _of people – something I will not be bragging about any time in the near future.

Tons of the soldiers were trying to invade my tent, too, apparently all trying to see 'The Black Butcher' or whatever sweet nickname they gave me. Sucks that I won't be able to use it in the Bingo Book considering I'm under alias at the moment, but it's an accomplishment, nonetheless.

The only reason I got peace from the masses was Mei's order that my tent do not be disturbed.

She used some bullshit excuse like "Allowing the hero to rest and tend his wounds before travelling back to his mercenary company".

Half of that was true.

Most of my wounds were healed by Kurama within a few days of the battle's end. Besides some annoying scars along my torso that the fox was too lazy to heal properly, most of the signs that I had even been in a fight are gone. So, _really_, there were no wounds to be tended to.

I truly was resting, though. Fighting an army takes a lot out of a guy, and while my muscles weren't tired, my mind definitely was. I took a well-earned rest for the days following my full recovery, mainly sleeping and enjoying visits from Jiraiya and the newly official Mizukage.

Mei had quite a bit to say, mainly updating me on the status of the war and what would happen to the country once the perv and I left. At one point she tried to swear some sort of life debt to me, but I'm not really one for forced servitude or having favors owed to me, so I dismissed the idea, telling her that I was simply helping for the betterment of her country.

That made her very happy, apparently, and made me just as happy that night when she returned for another friendly visit.

The list of things that I'll miss from this country is very short, but I'll be damned if she won't he at the top of it.

Not much can be said about my involvement in the fallout of the war. After troops began moving back to the main village, Jiraiya and I said our goodbyes to Mei and left the country as silently as we came in. I washed the surprisingly resilient oil out of my hair in a river about four clicks south of Wave, burned the clothes I was wearing, and my adventure to the Mist officially ended.

As far as vacations go, it was one of the better ones.


	5. Chapter 4

Some say that it only takes three days of doing something for it to become a habit. Perhaps that was why after his final day of training the Blue Rose Knights, Naruto again found himself in the office of his new King, passing the time bickering at the man and helping him with whatever paperwork he felt like.

Other times he would recline on the felt futon further towards the door, raising his boots onto the armrest and sink his head into a silk pillow. Regardless, every night so far had been spent in the king's quarters.

Julius found the company pleasant, and Naruto absolutely abhorred sitting alone in his room after the workday. He was already isolated the entire night due to his lack of necessary sleep and found even organizing papers more enjoyable than rereading the same sealing textbooks over again.

"I'd like to know your first impressions of the military, if you don't mind," Julius requested.

And so another benefit of visiting his new friend showed itself once again to Naruto: Julius loved asking questions – almost as much as Naruto enjoyed answering them.

"I love when you ask the difficult ones," Naruto replied from the futon, his legs raised in a familiar fashion.

"I think you just love the sound of your own voice," came a reply.

Naruto snickered at the witty chirp before asking a question of his own. "Just from these first few days with the Rose Knights? It hardly seems enough of an impression to judge how the troops are being trained."

"Yes, but it doesn't have to be an incredibly detailed analysis," the king clarified, scribbling his signature onto another sheet of paper. He tossed the document aside, continuing. "Most of the squads are trained in very similar ways, so you won't find much difference in their regimens. I simply wonder what you think of the training we put them through given your brief exposure to it."

Naruto thought for a moment, recounting his experience with Charlotte's troops those past few days. The training wasn't lacking, by far, and the knights surely had the drive to improve and succeed in their craft.

"Each person having an individual magic type and unique spells is a bonus in its own way," he started. "It gives everybody an edge over everybody in combat, because you can never be quite sure who can do what and how. However, I've seen it become very constricting, too. Back in the Leaf village, as long as you worked hard enough at it you could learn any technique from any element, save for those that could only be used through a bloodline. Sure, there were always a handful of about forty elemental techniques that were so prevalent it eventually became a mundane skill to find a counter for them, but still, shinobi always had the opportunity to learn something new to round out their skill set.

"As you most likely already guessed, it's drastically different than how this generation of fighters can learn and utilize anything, really. From what I've been told, new spells mainly arise from some personal growth or being pushed to a certain physical or mental limit, so their pool is already limited in terms of expansion. It strictly inhibits who can play what role in battle. I've honestly been tossing around my own ideas of how to increase the functionality of the squads and their troops," he finished.

Julius halted his quill and placed it in its hold, capping the glass of ink afterwards. "Would you mind sharing those ideas?" he asked.

Naruto sighed, gathering his thoughts. He hadn't thought hard about the structure of Konoha's military until well into his teens when the war had started. Being given a role of command by the summit – as small as his command was – had forced his hand in learning battle strategy. Tsunade – that cursed bat – had forced every tactic ever used by the previous Hokage into his brain.

While horrifically monotonous at the time, the lessons had given him an appreciation for the subtlety with which the village had organized its troops not only in combat, but in their four-man-cells as well.

"Well, from the time we were in the academy, the higher-ups had been watching our scores and performances to find what specialty we could potentially serve in the field. Then, on graduation, we were divided into teams of three with an instructor to train and lead us. The teams were heavily specialized in whatever missions they were meant to take.

"For instance, my team was one specifically designed to be frontline fighters and heavy hitters along with a secondary use as emergency medicine and backup. On most missions we would be sent right into the fray to power our way through enemy lines. On others, when we would receive a call from the forward infantry for immediate medical attention, myself and another would fend off the hostiles while our team's medic would provide aid and evacuate the wounded.

"Apart from us, there were teams specialized in tracking and retrieval, others in reconnaissance and information gathering, and I believe I remember quite a few who were specifically made for sabotage," Naruto concluded.

Julius narrowed his eyes pensively and considered the possible benefits and detriments of switching to such an arrangement. It may be hard for the more seasoned knights who have been brought up in the current structure to make such an intense switch. Still, implementing it with newer recruits could prove equally as difficult considering the greatly lax selection process of which recruit joins what squad.

"You think this team system could help the current military predicament?"

Naruto hummed before responding. "I wouldn't call what you have a predicament per se," he explained, "but it would help clean up the weaknesses in the troops. Assign each person to a permanent, small squad who would regularly conduct missions together. Not only do I guarantee an improvement in teamwork, but having different teams specifically built for different missions will also see mission success rates soar. Additionally, you may be able to organize the teams in such a way that the strengths of one member could cover the weaknesses of another."

The office room faded into a contemplative silence as Julius considered the thought even more. There were too many questions to be asked. Is the modern world similar enough to the historical one that this type of system could work? Could this somehow affect troop morale? Would this in any way eat at the military budget? If so, was it affordable?

The inquiries were of a staggering amount, and the king couldn't help himself by replacing any answered interrogatives with countless others. His mind was aflood with anxieties and complications that he nearly missed his partner's new request.

"Julius, can I ask a question?"

The words were enough to lull the man from his imaginary investigations, turning his head from the mahogany of his desk to the blue eyes sitting across the room from him.

"About?" the sovereign challenged.

"Why have you put so much trust into me in the four days that we've known each other?" Naruto inquired. "If I were in your position, I'd be wary of the powerful stranger who wandered his way into my kingdom."

A fair point, Julius thought. No military leader in his right mind would simply hand over consequential power to a relatively unknown man of questionable origins. He himself still had reservations about the fact that he truly had discovered the sage of legend. It was almost too good to be true, which could be deadly in the current day.

Regardless, the union of the nation's people had proven too much of a challenge for both himself and the rulers of years past. It was time that a change was made, and he was willing to take hefty risks in order to pursue those adjustments.

"I've already told you the problems arising in the country," Julius recounted tiredly.

"Yes, poverty lines and segregation," Naruto recited. "Though, I would have said 'problems that have arisen already'. We both know they've been here for a long time."

"They're not getting better."

"I've noticed," Naruto stated dumbly.

The king reclined backwards into his chair – a common occurrence in the past few days, he had noticed. Since the new blonde had bolstered his army, things had gotten far more exhausting to deal with. Or perhaps he had always been this distressed and never had a true peer to indulge these insecurities to.

It was of little importance now. Naruto was here to stay, and as long as he found residence in the office of a ruler, he could expect his rent to be to act as that ruler's ear to talk into. Heaven knows that spitting your problems to somebody else often lifted a weight from his shoulders, as if he was now sharing his burdens with another.

"As long as my tenure in the military has been, the opinions of the noble families regarding the common folk have in no way gotten any better," Julius summarized. "The Silva's and Vermillion's continue to subjugate those of lower birth to their hearts content and I've begun to see no feasible way to change them."

"Sounds like quite the problem," Naruto replied, "though you're preaching to the choir here."

Julius continued with a prophetic confession. "You came to me exactly when I needed you."

"And just my presence was enough for blind faith?" the sage questioned exaggeratedly.

"Yes."

The sudden response almost startled Naruto. However, a trace of restlessness found itself in Julius's reply. There was no doubt that the monarch had been searching for a solution for quite some time with none in sight. The entrance of such a formidable factor as Naruto had surely required much deliberation on what action to take. Perhaps that anxiety had warranted such a drastic decision.

Soon, the king found his hands on his face, vigorously rubbing the exhaustion from his visage. "I'm running out of options, Naruto," Julius admitted. "The country's values are unstable, and it seems that the only thing everybody has in common is their allegiance to me."

"That's a dangerous position to be in," Naruto conceded, slowly shifting himself into a sitting position from the futon.

"Which is why I'm sure you can see my desperation."

"It was a gamble, nonetheless," the ninja challenged.

Julius sighed, "Luck has always been on my side it seems."

Naruto chortled. "Play a game of hold 'em with me and I'll make you eat your words," he let out.

Suddenly, the door heaved open with a groan and in rushed Julius's teal haired assistant. He strode quickly to the king, beckoning for his ear and speaking harsh, quiet words to the commander.

The man rushed out quickly, and with a heaving exhale, the caped mage put his elbows on his desk and began muttering into his hands. Naruto, being one to pry, leaned into a calm recline against the back of the futon, eyeing the frustrated man in his throne.

"I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that something is wrong," the sage joked.

Julius ceased his murmuring and stared at the door that had just been thrown closed. He didn't attempt eye contact with his contemporary, instead averting his eyes downwards towards his papers once again and breathing out one more deep sigh.

After his theatrical semantics, Julius once again donned his professional posture and beckoned an order at Naruto.

"You have your first mission."

Naruto tensed immediately. He had not considered that such a situation would happen this early in his new career. He was aware of the duties that he had agreed to carry out, but this still seemed incredibly abrupt.

"Already?"

"I know, I know," Julius replied. "I didn't think this would happen either," he explained.

Naruto was close to demanding the information from him before Julius began again. "Don't worry, there shouldn't be any lethal force necessary," he assured. "One of our patrols found a newly emerged dungeon to the east on the border of the Diamond Kingdom. I have no idea what could be in there, but on the off chance that there are ancient magical items or heaps of treasure, I don't want Diamond on this first."

Naruto looked at the king pensively, awaiting some semblance of orders on what he was needed for. "Can't you just send a squad to check it out immediately?" he offered.

Julius finally gazed at Naruto. "I could," he began, "but I'm sure that Diamond will already be doing the same thing. We can't afford for those – excuse my words – warmongering bastards to get a hand on something in there that could potentially be a military asset."

The mission began to come together for the sage. If these eastern enemies truly were war hungry Spartans, then their soldiers who discovered the dungeon may already have started their exploration and mapping efforts in an attempt to undermine similar attempts by Clover. Even if not, what was stopping them from immediately sending a battalion to the border rather than waiting until morning to send squads like Julius seemed intent on doing?

Perhaps he didn't want the news of such a large asset being so easily accessible to their nearest enemies exposed to the public yet, and instead wished for his troops to quietly move and secure it before making such an announcement to the masses.

Regardless, he couldn't allow Diamond to get their hands on the place without a fight and must have opted on Naruto establishing a control of the area before sending in more teams for his own efforts to delve into the unknown territory.

"So, you want me to fly over to this dungeon, explore it, and seize any items that could be used for military benefit?" Naruto concluded.

Julius nodded slowly, taking up his quill again and ravenously jotting down words on a small piece of parchment. While scribbling he began talking again. "Get there as quick as you can and obtain any of those items you may find." He finished his writing and rose from his desk, gliding towards Naruto, holding out two similarly sized rolled papers constricted with string.

"Before you leave, take these to both Yami and William. Tomorrow a squad from both the Bulls and the Dawn will arrive to officially secure the dungeon in the name of the Clover Kingdom and help retrieve any of the more inconsequential items that may reside there."

Naruto nodded sharply – a reflex still present from his days working with the ANBU troops in Konoha. He turned to leave and gather his belongings before stopping shy of the door and turning back towards Julius, expressing his thoughts.

"Two questions."

"Two answers," Julius replied.

"One: Where the hell is this place?"

As if on cue, the same blue haired assistant from prior opened the door behind Naruto, quickly side stepping around the man and walked to Julius, handing him a large, folded piece of paper. That same paper was immediately tossed from the king's hands to those of the ninja, who unfolded the creased sheets to reveal an intricate map detailing the relative location and coordinates of his destination.

Naruto looked back up to an all too smug Julius who responded with, "Next question."

Naruto chuckled half-heartedly, refolding the paper and depositing it into his satchel for later use. He placed his hands on his hips in disbelief, before finally yielding his desire for questions on how Julius always executed daily tasks with such perfect timing.

Instead, he threw his hands up lightly before releasing his next desire.

"Any chance those new clothes come in before I leave?"

* * *

Yami hadn't slept so peacefully in quite a while. The new recruits should have been causing him loads of stress as they learned how the Bulls worked, but the mission that they had come back from recently went surprisingly smooth under Magna's leadership.

The new brat was settling into how his sword worked in combat against other mages, and even the entitled Silva was learning to control her powers after the fiasco just a few days ago.

Hell, Julius had even given them a star for it, which was a huge boost in morale for the squad. He thought that maybe the new additions to their roster could finally bring the Bulls to a higher reputation and prove that even the misfits of the world could become a force to be reckoned and respected.

Yet, these were thoughts for tomorrow, and after his scheduled defecation fueled meditations, he was finally ready for the sleep that he so craved every night. Soon, his eyes shut, ready to be embraced by dreams.

"Yami, wake up. I have news."

The voice was familiar. Definitely not one that he had ever thought he would dream of, but soon a face came with the parched baritone, and across from him in the arena conjured by his dreamscape he saw the blonde man who he had fought four days ago, standing clad in his bumpkin attire, smiling dangerously.

"Yami, seriously, wake up or I'm going to slap you," the boy across from him said.

Yami smirked.

_You even talk smack in my dreams, huh? _the captain thought. _Doesn't matter. Since I know I'm dreaming, I can conjure anything to kick your ass._

The captain's sword erupted from a blackened void into his hands, aflame with the energy of shadow. He raised it swiftly above his head, preparing a vicious strike to split the blonde in two.

"_I've got you beat now, you blonde fuck_," Yami spat.

With unkempt fervor and a ferocious swing, Yami's arms arched from his head to the floor, sending a darkness ridden energy pulsing from his blade, travelling incessantly at the blonde in the arena across from him. The attack travelled with a blazing intensity fueled by Yami's desire for battle, and just as it reached the blonde, intent on splitting him in pieces of-

_SLAP!_

Yami jerked awake in his bed to a harsh sting on his left cheek, instinctively reaching for his sword beside his bed, instead only caressing the oak of the frame.

He shot up alert, pulling his feet under him in a crouch on the bed, frantically searching the room for the source of the strike. His eyes, still adjusting from sleep, landed on a blurred figure loosely hugged by a black cloak. The statue-like man – from what he could make out of their general build in the night – stood stoically at the side of his bed, gripping his sword in a gloved hand protruding from the opening of his robe.

Doing as fast of a once-over as he could, the captain detailed black cloth hugging the rest of the man's arm, itself underneath a grey vest on his torso still half covered by the left side of his cloak.

Gliding his eyes upwards, his amber irises fell onto a white porcelain mask beneath the hood, decorated only by two onyx pits that entered into a void where eyes should have been.

Not bothering to size the opponent up any more than he already had, Yami primed himself for a leap into the figure, quickly flexing his legs for the intent of vaulting himself into the cloaked man for a grapple. Quite suddenly, before Yami could bring himself to an acceptable balance to pounce the intruder, words began to flow from behind the mask.

"Christ, Yami, how deep can a man sleep. I was practically screaming at you," the voice complained.

The tone was familiar – one that Yami felt he had heard not only moments before in his –

"Naruto?" Yami asked carefully.

The figure tilted his head in confusion, as if the man had asked a question he should have already known the answer to. A voice once again found itself weaving through the mask.

"What do you mean 'Naruto?' Of course it's fucking me can't you – Oh shit do I still have my mask on? Oh I definitely still have it on." The last sentence was spoken between rising laughter muddled in disbelief. Soon the man's other hand pushed the cloth draped over his body aside, reaching for the porcelain obscuring his face and gingerly pulled it off along with the hood, showing Yami the tanned blonde he was expecting.

"Hey bud!" Naruto smiled.

Yami slacked his legs and fell back on his bed, relaxing from the state of aggression that he had brought himself to moments earlier. He took a moment to process the boy being in his room, letting out a long exhale and reaching for the pack of cigarettes laying on his bedside table and bringing one to his lips. He fumbled in his pocket for a lighter, finally pulling it out and striking the flame, rising the blaze to the tobacco before inhaling evenly and snapping the metal shut.

"You better have a damn good explanation as to why you're in my room right now," Yami spoke, smoke billowing unevenly from his mouth with each word.

Naruto motioned for the pack of cigarettes, which Yami tossed into the waiting hands of the blonde. He set Yami's blade down, leaning it on the bed and snagging the butt of one of the sticks and tossing the pack back onto the bedside table.

"I got my first op from Julius. Dungeon was found on the Eastern border, right where Diamond meets Clover," he spoke, flicking his thumb under his index finger producing the light of a fire protruding from his nail, bringing it up to the tip of the cig before inhaling slightly allowing the paper to catch.

He exhaled, continuing, "I'm going undercover to secure the area from any Diamond forces." He then reached behind him with his right hand and pulled the rolled parchment from his pouch, tossing it to his peer. "And tomorrow, you and William are sending teams to explore it and take anything that might be worthwhile."

Yami cast the twine aside and unrolled the paper, reading the mission details. He took one more drag and let the smoke loose, looking back up at the blonde.

"What squad did you end up joining?" Yami queried.

The blonde grinned and chuckled. "None. Julius has me helping all the squads with their training and missions. I actually just got done with Charlotte's knights yesterday. What a woman, huh?" he asked jokingly.

Yami snorted, before adding his two cents.

"Well I guess that's what you get when a new recruit beats a Captain during his entrance exams."

Naruto looked up in consideration, letting an exaggerated tenor escape him. "Well, it's a _bit _more than that, but yeah, I guess."

Yami shook his head, still in disbelief that he had lost so magnificently to this man not days before. Finally, he asked his final question.

"Why undercover?" he asked.

Naruto sighed, itching the back of his neck. "I'm assuming Julius will tell you and some of the other Captains the details soon, but right now he doesn't want my existence to be known outside of Clover other than in obscurity."

Naruto then turned and made his way back towards the window, reopening it and setting is foot on the sill, smothering his cigarette in Yami's ashtray and redonning his mask and hood, speaking once more before leaping from the window.

"Listen, I already said some similar stuff to William when I went to him earlier, so why don't you both stop by at Julius's office tomorrow and tell him I sent you. I'm sure that he'll be more than happy to explain all about our new circumstances."

* * *

Julius was not happy that he had just had to explain the new circumstances of one newly recruited blonde ninja. It was to the king's understanding that Naruto hadn't wanted any of the others in the kingdom to know of his status as an ancient super weapon. In fact, he was relatively positive that had been one of their main talking points the first time that they had discussed the situation.

"You make transcripts of all of your conversations?"

The voice broke him from his contemplation as he looked towards the blonde clone standing to the side of his office, leaning against the wall and scanning over the document handed to him.

"Only when the conversation involves information of this delicacy," Julius replied.

It was a practice he had proceeded with years ago when the amount of information he was receiving had started overtaking his capacity to retain it. The king tried not to do it often, considering it an invasion of privacy on some of those he would speak to as well as highly dangerous should anyone find the location as to where he stored the papers.

Sadly, concrete evidence of the dialogue during a conversation was sometimes necessary for a leader to properly rule and recollect vital intel, and some of that intel was too important for any of his secretaries or stenographers to bear witness to.

Thus, he had devised a brilliantly secretive method to record his conversations and transcribe them to paper using modern magical technology.

However, the ninja didn't need to know how it was done; only why he was holding the sheets of paper containing the aforementioned conference between the king and his two captains.

"I don't know why you told them I'd answer questions considering we both agreed to be subtle with this information, but-"

"Wait, hold on, shut up," the blonde clone instructed with a laugh. "Listen to how you guys talk with each other, this shit's hilarious." He followed his laughter by reading the document in his hand:

* * *

_Designation: __**CLASSIFIED**_

_Conversation between Yami Sukehiro, William Vangeance, and Julius Novachrono on the subject of Naruto Uzumaki_

_Thursday, __**DATE REDACTED**_

_Royal Capitol_

_The interview in the above matter was held in the Office of the Esteemed Wizard King, Julius Novachrono, commencing at 10:37 hours._

_Present in room: CAPTAINS Yami Sukehiro, William Vangeance; WIZARD KING Julius Novachrono._

_Yami: He's what?_

_Julius: Immortal. As I said._

_William: I hope you don't mind that I find this incredibly hard to believe._

_Julius: Feel free to take your time with it._

_William: I don't know if time to think is going to help me wrap my head around this._

_Yami: You're telling me that the brat is some ancient super soldier?_

_Julius: I mean that's some heavy paraphrasing but, yes, something of that sort._

_William: Who is also four thousand years old._

_Julius: Give or take._

_William: And he just showed up one day and you immediately deduced his identity?_

_Julius: Once again, not seeing what's confusing._

_Yami: The entire thing._

_William: Yes, quite._

_Julius: Listen, you've both read the 'Epic of the Rikkudo Sennin', right?_

_William: Of course._

_Yami: Never heard of it._

_Julius: It's a big book. Really old. It tells the story of this massive war that was fought a very long time ago and of the man who saved the world._

_William: I'm familiar._

_Yami: I'm not._

_Julius: The book isn't fiction._

_William: I'd like to give a counter argument._

_Julius: Go ahead._

_William: Yes it is._

_Yami: Still haven't read the book._

_Julius: Yami, shut up. Look, when was the last time you read it?_

_William: Five years ago in schooling._

_Yami: Literally never._

_Julius: I urge you to read the new print that we revised a few days ago._

_William: That will answer none of my questions._

_Julius: Please, feel free to ask away._

_Yami: Yeah, uh, hello. Still haven't read the book. However, what's stopping this kid from just impersonating this guy and trying to trick you?_

_Julius: One reason._

_Yami: One?_

_William: As opposed to multiple of those._

_Yami: Shut up._

_Julius: He has no magic power._

_Yami: I'd like to offer a similar counter argument as William's earlier._

_Julius: Are you going to say, 'Yes he does'?_

_Yami: You know me so well._

_Julius: He has absolutely no trace of magic power in his body. We've done thorough tests. Some voluntary. Some less so._

_William: Then how was he able to use that teleporting ability of his in the arena?_

_Yami: And how about those clones that Charlotte keeps raving about?_

_William: Raving?_

_Yami: She mentioned them twice._

_William: That _is_ how Charlotte raves._

_Julius: I thought you'd be even more confused about him having two separate types of magical capabilities._

_Yami: Freak genetic mutations happen._

_Julius: Not with him._

_William: You've checked that, too?_

_Julius: He uses a completely different source of energy. It's much more versatile and much deadlier than what we can use now._

_Yami: How deadly?_

_Julius: As he's described them, some of his more explosive techniques could be considered war crimes._

_Yami: Do we even have war crimes?_

_William: I don't remember the meeting about that._

_Julius: Look, I wouldn't be telling you this if I wasn't entirely certain of the situation._

_William: You're sure?_

_Julius: Positive._

_Yami: Entirely?_

_Julius: Beyond a doubt._

_William: I'd still like a physical compilation of the evidence you've derived to support this claim so that I can review it myself._

_Julius: Read the book._

_William: I've read the book._

_Yami: Seriously, can we shut up about the book?_

_Julius: Listen to me. Naruto and I have had extensive conversations about this subject, and I am confident in my thesis. I understand both of your hesitations, but I have put my faith in him, and I ask that you do the same for me. I would not dare risk something on this large of a scale if I wasn't convinced of it myself. Even if he is a foreign imposter, I have put contingencies into place to assure that the situation does not escalate any further than it needs to. Besides, if he is an imposter and not who the legend says, then his power can't be anything to truly scoff at in the first place. Please, trust me as you have previously. Have I ever led you astray?_

_Yami: Actually there was there was this one time where you-_

_Julius: Are you still hung up about that?_

_William: I would have brought it up. It was hilarious._

_Yami: Fuck you, William._

_William: That was about as far south as a mission could possibly go. Thank god I wasn't with you; I wouldn't do well in foreign prison._

_Yami: I did fine._

_William: I'm prettier than you._

_Yami: You got me there._

_Julius: Oh fuck you guys._

_Yami: Do I have to read the book?_

_Julius: The new one that he helped me revise, yes._

_William: There's been a revision?_

_Julius: Just go to the archives and leave me be, please. I have work to get done and you have troops to manage._

* * *

"Contingencies in place, huh?" the clone chuckled.

"That was a lie," Julius groaned.

Truthfully, he had just said that to pacify their worries over whether or not the ninja would rampage through the streets with his 'so-called nation ending powers'. Julius had faith in Naruto – even though he had been a part of the military for an objectively insignificant amount of time.

"No, by all means," Naruto began as he walked over and placed the papers back onto Julius's desk. "Please tell me how you plan to defeat the _Sage of Legend._"

"Please stop calling yourself that."

The subject of conversation soon died, with Naruto having gotten the information he desired and Julius no longer wishing to discuss it. They both embraced the quiet for a bit, pondering the morning's developments.

"Lying to your troops can't be easy," Naruto spoke. It wasn't a question more than a statement of fact. He himself had lied to his comrades on scores of occasions, and each time was dreadfully uncomfortable. It was a skill that came with his job, but it was no doubt difficult to stare a good friend in the face and lie about major events in his life. Surely it was no different for the monarch, no matter how often he must have had to twist the truth to keep his soldiers' peace of minds.

"They're more friends than troops," Julius responded.

"Which should have made it harder," the clone concluded.

It was true. Julius had never enjoyed withholding the truth from his subordinates, especially ones as close to him as Yami and William. However, morale was important – arguably more important than the actual strength of the knights. Low morale meant lack of trust in one's leader; lack of trust in one's leader meant lack of trust in the military; lack of trust in the military meant lack of trust in the state; and lack of trust in the state meant a decrease in patriotism.

The job of a sovereign above leading a country effectively was, even in the worst of times, leading the citizens and military to believe that the country was being run effectively. If the populace believed that their home was prosperous and in good fortune, even during times of war, then the soldiers would fight hard and well to protect that country.

When the truth of Naruto came out – which would be soon with the captains, he was sure – there could be no disparaging as to Julius's competency as King, including any of those issues to do with their new 'foreign invader'.

"It was just to get them off my backs about it," Julius clarified.

The clone raised its eyebrows at the man, letting out a light sigh. "It seems they're still skeptical."

"As I hoped they'd be," the king explained. "I didn't train them to blindly listen to every word that I said. I need something to keep me in check in case I go mad one day."

"With how things are going, that day might come sooner rather than later," the blonde jested.

"How are things at the dungeon?" Julius changed the subject.

"So far no signs of intruders, Clover or otherwise. The Bulls and Dawn are still about an hour away and I'd expect Diamond troops to be there around the same time."

"You know that they're coming?"

"No, but I'd expect it."

Julius sighed. "If anything starts after our squads arrive, let them handle it unless you feel that their lives are in danger. I want to see if they can work as a team in combat."

"Got it," the clone responded curtly before imploding into a mass of thin smoke, letting its remnants waft over the room, leaving the foul smell of vapor to invade Julius's nose.

_That dick_, he thought.

* * *

The dungeon was a many times larger than it appeared on the outside, having embedded itself far into the earth below. From what Naruto could tell, the interior was enhanced by some sort of spatial magic, granting an interior size far exceeding what the exterior's should reasonably allow.

Using the hours of the night to his advantage, the ninja had sent waves of clones to explore the areas, dispelling when they hit a dead end so that he could get a rough layout of the place's innards.

It hadn't taken long, as thankfully his clones had the graces to make clones themselves if they ever hit a passage with more than one way available.

After a few hours, Naruto had a decent map of each of the dungeon's floors mapped on sheets of parchment. It was nowhere near perfect, and the scaling of the room sizes and passageway lengths would have to be more accurately measured at a later date. However, it would suffice as a baseline navigation tool until he could take more time for accurate assessments.

That time would not be now, however, as once he had nearly finished the last floor's map, he saw movement from the corner of his vision coming from the direction of the Clover Kingdom. Looking away from his work, he spotted his good friend Asta and two of his companions coming across the dungeon's entrance.

They couldn't see him tucked away in the corners of the stone's peaks, and he heeded Julius's warnings to not interfere, letting them enter the cave where a few of his clones were still running around getting more information about trapping mechanisms and the like.

Soon after them followed the team from the Dawn, barreling their way into the cave's entrance, not even stopping to recon the exterior.

_Bunch of cocky bastards,_ he thought. Yuno definitely received a bit of an ego after joining the supposed 'best knights squad in the country'. It wasn't enough to warrant any worry in changing his character, but to not even stop and properly assess a possibly hostile area before proceeding into it? There were some major problems with their approach and considering that there was a senior knight watching over them, Naruto would need to speak with William about the conduct of his troops in a potential combat zone – especially considering it _was _a combat zone.

Diamond troops had entered the dungeon some ten minutes prior to clover forces reaching there. Naruto would have dealt with them personally had Julius not ordered him not half-an-hour ago to strictly observe the Clover knights unless the situation went into dire straits.

There was, of course, some self interest in letting the enemies roam freely into his territory as well. He had never gotten to see Yuno and Asta in actual combat save for the spars that they had with himself. He read the report of their missions preceding the dungeon exploration, but words never did justice to the actual pacing, strategy, and thrill of a true battle between opposing forces.

So, truthfully, letting the Diamond troops in uncontested was half due to Julius's orders and half due to his own desire to see Asta and Yuno in their first combat mission entirely in hostile territory against international enemies.

Still, he could help them out just a bit. He didn't want them walking into an ambush if he could help it. Lily would never forgive him if something happened to either of the two. So, he rolled up his papers and shoved them into his pouch, bounding from his perch onto the forest floor in front of the dungeon's entrance, running into its darkened belly.

It only took a few minutes of running before coming across a confrontation between the teams from the Bulls and Dawn, seemingly already at odds with each other. What was more noticeable was that the Bulls' team leader was nowhere to be found. His trace was racing from one of the openings on the side of the walls towards where he had tracked most of the Diamond's knights.

_Leaving your troops alone to confront the enemy yourself? _Naruto thought. _Yami and William are both getting their asses chewed for how they trained their troops. _

The argument from the group ahead of him brought him from his thoughts, with Asta's voice surging over sounds of the rushing water between stone platforms gridding the room.

"We gained a star not long ago as well!" the boy yelled.

"Lies," the Dawn's team leader – Klaus, if Naruto remembered correctly – shot Asta down.

"Actually they're not lying," Naruto spoke, landing from a leap that sent him from the room's entrance directly between the two teams.

Klaus braced himself at the hooded stranger's impact, shuffling into a defensive stance and motioning for both Yuno and the girl – Mimosa, from what the mission statement said – to ready themselves for combat. "I should have known Diamond would have gotten here first."

Naruto raised his hand at the man, attempting to pacify him. "Stand down Klaus. I'm here on orders from Lord Julius."

"Why should I trust what you're saying?" the man countered.

"You shouldn't!" Naruto spewed sarcastically. "That's one of the first rules of meeting a mysterious stranger in a combat zone."

"You're not making a great case for yourself," Yuno spoke doubtfully.

N "I don't need to prove my trust to you. I'm here to observe and defend you if things get out of hand. A few Diamond soldiers got here about five minutes before you did. They're already deeper into the dungeon. I think that's where the Bulls' squad leader head off to."

"And you did nothing to stop them?" Klaus asked angrily.

"Again, I'm just here to observe and report back to Julius," Naruto clarified. "Well, I'm also here to clean shop in case you guys fuck up, but you aren't going to, are you?"

"I'm not gonna fail!" Asta yelled.

It was refreshing to Naruto that even in a critical situation he could keep his spirits up. However, the lack of readiness for a skirmish both he and his silver-haired partner were showing. It seemed hearing that the man was there on command from Julius mitigated their sense of danger from the man but being so readily accepting of his identity showed the naivety still present within them.

Perhaps if their leader had been there, he could have guided them effectively through the engagement.

_I'm gonna send that kid through the ringer, whoever the fuck he is. _

"That's fantastic," Naruto responded to Asta's proclamation. "Listen, new mission parameters: Repel the knights from Diamond and secure the treasure as quickly as possible. I've already mapped out the area and sent the report back, so don't worry about the cartography of it all."

"We weren't in the first place," Klaus growled.

Naruto breathed heavily. "God, you're a tool."

He disregarded Klaus and instead addressed the Junior Knights.

"This is an important mission. Lord Julius expects it to be dealt with quickly and efficiently. Get it done and get home safely."

Suddenly the man went silent, receiving images from a clone that had been cataloging the treasure room. They had found something _incredibly _interesting.

_No way did those survive this long_, he denied.

He quickly spoke up, gathering the group's attention once again. "There's been a development deeper in the dungeon, so I will take my leave now. I'll be watching you all."

He strode through the group and vaulted from the floor to one of the openings in the wall, turning back to give the best advice he could give to any soldier facing definite enemy opposition.

"Don't die."

He then turned and stalked into the darkness of the unknown.

* * *

Arriving back in the treasure room with a familiar flash, a clone readily tossed a long blue scroll at the now arrived agent. It was familiar. _Incredibly_ familiar.

_I never thought I'd see these again. Hell, I never really wanted to see these again. How did this even get here? Somebody must have excavated the remnants of the Mist and relocated them, because I know for a fact I collected these and gave them back to Mei after the war. _

With this scroll, he had definitely completed his mission of seizing anything that could potentially be used as a military asset. Nothing else in the trove really mattered anymore now that this scroll was within his hands.

However, the implication of the scroll's survival was enormous. If this scroll could have sustained the millennia after the death of chakra, whether it be through some stasis magic or just a series of very dedicated historians and collectors, the fact was that other relics of the ninja world could survive as well.

He would search more for any other dangerous materials in the room, but for all intents and purposes, this was most definitely the single greatest military asset in the room, without a single doubt.

He opened rolled paper and let the bulk flow to the ground, holding the start upwards with both palms and exposing seven different sets of sealing matrices.

_The swords of the Mist live. _

* * *

**Sorry for the wait. I have a new story I've been working on and I've been dividing my time between it and this. Hope ya like the chapter. I'll be working on another one for this fic soon. Expect the new fic very soon. I'll have no more than two fics open at a time so I don't get overwhelmed and forget about any of them, especially since I have such a shitty update schedule. **

**Ya boy has some problems with his cabeza and I think that's why I have such a hard time writing, and I'm going through the process of getting my problems fixed so hopefully when that does get remedied I'll be able to write more often and give you guys the stories. **

**Anyway, lemme know what ya think. Constructive criticism is taken well. I read all the reviews, so if ya like it, let me know. If ya don't, lemme know why. If you're looking for hot singles in your area, I'm your guy. **

**Dicktock McJerry out. **


	6. Quick AN - I'm sorry, I know

**Dear Readers,**

**Hey guys, I just wanted to give a quick update. I apologize that this isn't another chapter for the story, but I promise that it's in the works and will be out soon. If you want an explanation for why I upload so infrequently and how my update schedule works, keep on reading. If not, feel free to drop it. **

**So here's the deal with how my update schedule kinda works. I don't have a set one like some other authors do on the site (i.e. uploading a new chapter every other week or every Monday of the month or something like that). I'd like to be able to do that for you guys, and lord knows that for all the support you give me you deserve it, but ideals and reality often don't mix how we want them to. **

**I know I joke a lot in my bio and author's notes and stuff, but I'll just be straight up with y'all for the moment. **

**I'm at a really stressful point in my life and have been for the past few years of writing this story and many of the ones that I've posted. For background, I'm a premed biology student studying at a university that has very heavy class requirements. The courses are hard – generally because it's a very good university for what I'm studying – and I often find myself completely swamped with work unable to do anything else. Still, even when I do get those breaks on weekends and such, I moreso try and relax and turn off my brain rather than try to write. I don't want to let the stress of trying to get into medschool get to me, and it really helps that in my free time I can just relax and do absolutely nothing. **

**I don't know if you've noticed a pattern in how my uploads work, but my chapters are mainly written during large breaks from school (i.e. Spring Break, Summer, Winter break, or the whole pandemic and such). It gives me time to gather motivation, read through reviews, reread my old chapters to see where I was taking things (as I usually write chapters improvising the whole thing and let my imagination just take me where it wants), and plan and write what I want. **

**So, I don't have the time or self-discipline to be writing a ton, especially with all of the extracurriculars I'm a part of to make me look good on med school applications. I'm not trying to make any excuses, I just wanted to provide an explanation to those who assume my stories are abandoned after I don't upload for a while. **

**So, with all of that said, updates with me come slowly and very infrequently, honestly maybe a few chapters a year – which is sad and unreasonable, and definitely unfair to all of you, but just how it has to be at the moment.**

**Honestly, Fanfiction is a huge guilty pleasure of mine. I love reading what all of you guys can come up with and how you feel that these different stories could take place. I've really enjoyed reading stories like ****Return of the Flash****, ****The Last Prayer****, ****From Academy to ANBU****, and all of the others that different authors very obviously put a lot of time and effort into. I've loved Naruto since I was a kid, and when the main series ended and I learned all I had, I turned to this site to see what other fans could add. **

**I've taken many stabs at writing fanfic, some very cringey when I was in my early teens (which have been thoroughly deleted and the hard drive having already been drilled through), but right now is the first time that I feel like I'm actually writing something that both I and the Fanfic community can enjoy. It's finally fun and I feel like my writing is finally at a passable quality and I absolutely love reading all of your reviews. **

**So, I mean, thanks? **

**As I said, I'm underway with writing the next chapter to Woes of an Immortal, so I will get that to you in the near future. Additionally, as I've said previously, I've been working on another project tentatively titled 'Mercy, Mercy, Mercy' with a premise that I love a lot and am very passionate about writing, and the only reason that it isn't out yet is that I can't pull myself away from writing the overall summary of the chapters and stories to finally finish the details on the first few chapters. But I think it'll be my best story yet and I hope you guys agree as well. **

**Additionally, for anybody who was a fan of 'Return', that story is on an indefinite Hiatus. The whole premise to me seemed cool, but it was written far too roughly and without enough real general direction to it for me to consider continuing it in the face of the other projects I'm working on. I'll eventually rewrite the first few chapters and continue it in the future, but that sadly won't be any time soon. **

**Also, this chapter will be deleted later on, because I always hate it when authors leave authors notes in the middle of stories, so this will get cut after a while.**

**Anyway, this is already way too long, and I'm writing this during a 30 minute break between moving apartments, so I gotta go. **

**Thanks for reading my stories. I genuinely do really appreciate you guys. I hope you all continue reading the things I have planned. **

**Thanks. **


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